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HISTORY AND INCIDENTS 



INDIAN CORN, 



AND ITS CULTURE. 



INCLUDING STATISTICAL, ANALYTICAL AND OTHER TABLES ; 
ALSO, ILLUSTRATIONS AND DIAGRAMS. 



,^ 



WILLIAM D. EMERSON. 

■ '^ ^'ST9. .CSV 

CINCINNATI : 

Weightson & Co., Peintees and Bindees, 13 West Foueth Street. 

1878. 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1S78, 

By WILLIAM D. EMERSON, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



PREFACE. 



As the Maize Crop is one of the foundations of the prosperity of our Republic, 
the results of its culture have an interest for every citizen. The early history of 
Maize growth in tlie United States, is associated with one of the greatest events 
of modern times. Us statistics, herein tabled, may be studied in the light of the 
most celebrated movements of our own, and the European Governments, for 
ninety years that have passed. It is shown herein that Maize growth has inti- 
mate relations, not only with the acts of civil government, commerce, navigation, 
political economy, and the industrial and esthetic arts, especially tho.se thn-t 
stimulate invention, and encourage experiment, but also with the sciences that 
have been built up through the long past, such as geography, astronomy, geome- 
try, natural philosophy and natural history; and also with later-born chemistry, 
geology, botany, entomology and meteorology. 

Although no amount of knowledge will supply the place of close observa- 
tion and just reasoning in practical matters, yet, where the true brain and the 
well trained muscle go together, the more we know of the methods of others 
the better, because in overcoming new difficulties, we may find in theexperiencts 
of others something that may save us from wading throiigh costly e.xperiments. 
Some prefer to walk in a prescribed path ; others, to strike out paths of their 
own ; but as in the Great Republic, corn is not gathered at the command of an 
Alcador, most men must be their own judges in choosing tlieir respective modes 
of culture. One may fail in a method very successful in the hands of a next 
neighbor, not because the surrounding circumstances and external advantages 
are different, but simply because the two men are differently constituted. Hence 
it would appear that precise modes are less to be insisted on, than general prin- 
ciples variousl}' illustrated. 

The man who does not pursue Maize culture merely to get his money out of 
it, will often find a pleasure in learning how others, under gi eat disadvantages, 
have strugsiled to bring the art gradually to perfection. He will hardly be cou- 
fce!it with knowing that the well to do prairie farmer of the West rides in a 
sulky that drags a heavy plow through the sod of centuries ; that he rides on a 
corn planter to mark out and plant his fifteen or twenty acres per day ; that he 
has a seat above his two-horse cultivator as it passes over the corn rows ; thai at 
the proper stage for cutting up, he drives through the com ro'ws his harvester 
that shocks as well aa severs the stalks; that the machine corn Imsker makes the 
husking pin or glove needless, for saving his fingers, and that his own, or the 
neighborhood corn-sheller turns out naked cobs at the rate of five hundred 
busliels per day. If the far West, with its multiplied machinery, gathers 
splendid harvests from the rich new breadths of the soil, lifting human toil off 
from its feet, the Kast, with its improved implements and fertilizers wrings out 
of the depths of its renewed soil, its own rich harvests, gradually making hu- 
man hands and feet far more efiective. 

As one of the objects in the preparation of this work has been to make it a 
book of reference for the leading facts and figures connected with Maize cul- 
ture, the lists of Contents and Tables, and Index, have been very carefully 
prepared, so that persons desiring further information on the various topics 
connect d with the main s-ubject may have little trouble in looking for it. 

The author has been mostly indebted to the Annual Reports of the Agricul- 
tural Division of the Patent Office, and of the more recent Agric\iltural Depart- 
ments of the United States, and the State Agricultural Reports of Ohio ; but he 
has also gathered from a great variety of other sources, including s;ome of our 
oldest as well as our youngest public journals, and also from statements of 
farmers in different sections made to him personally. Great pains have been 
taken to have the facts and figures accurately stated. 

The U. S. Agricultural Department estimates of the Maize product have 
been brought up in the tables to 1S75. The crop has been abundant in the two 
succeeding years. That of 1877 has been estimated at thirteen hundred and ten 
nnllions of bushels ; the number of swine for the .same year 32.262,500. Kar.' as 
is credited with the heaviest yield per acre, forty-three and one-half bushels. 
New Hampshire being second. The Special Report for June, 1878, speaks of the 
condition of this crop as favorable in the South, less so in the North and West ; 
a warm April inducing earjy planting, and consequent injury from the succeed- 
ing cool and wet season. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

Page. 

Proximate Elements ». — «— 9 

Organic ".- " ~ 10 

liiorgauic 12 

Process of Digestion..... 12 

Material for tame 1* 

Analysis of Nonazotized Compounds - -~ 15 

Analysis of Ajzotized Compounds..- — — 15 

Analysis of Proteine - — - 1& 

CHAPTER II. 

Comparative Value of Maize as Food ; Results of Analysis _. 16 

Analysis of Maize and Wheat 18 

Analysis of Indian Corn, Wheat, Kye, Oats, Buckwheat, Peas, Rice, Cabbage, 

Meadow Hay, Clover, Wheat StraWj Pea Straw and Potatoes 19 

Analysis of Ash of Indian Corn, Wheat, Bye and Oats „ 20 

Analysis of Maize and Wheat Straws ~~ - ~ ~ 2X 

CHAPTER in. 

Early History of the Maize Plant 22 

ft. I Incidents of the Discovery by Columbus and his Successors _ 23 

b.] Maize as first seen by the Conquerors of Mexico and Peru 2-t 

C.J Maize as a Tradition among the Ancient Peruvians 2.'> 

d.\ Myths of the North American Indians touching same 27 

e.) Maize in the Early American Colonies 2S 

f.\ Capt. John Smith's Account of Indian Maize Culture 29 

'}.] Maize and the Pilgrim Fathers 30 

/t.J Prices of Indian Corn in the Colonies of Virginia and Massachusetts. Bay 31 

j.) Prices in other Colonies — 33 

j.] Maize in Wm. Penu's Colony _. 33 

K.J Exports and Imports of Maiise in the Colonies up to their Independence 

iu 1776 33 

CHAPTER IV. 

Distribution of Maize 34 

\a.] Compared with that of other Grains, especially iu the Old World. ........ 34 

!b I Maize in England — 3t> 

c] Maize in Africa, &c — ~ 36 

d.\ Maize iu the New World „ „ 37 

CHAPTER V. 

Statistical History of Maize in the United States 3S 

la.] Prominent Points of Same 33 

[6. 1 Acreage by Census; of Maize by Estimates of U. S. Agricultural Depart- 
ment 39 

[c] Table of Improved Acres; Population; Maize Product; Bushels to 

each Acre of Improved land, and each Inhabitant, in U. S ... 39 

[d.] Census Returns of Maize Product in U. S., severally for 1*10, 1850, 18C0 

and 1870, with Yield per Acreforl850, &c 41 

[e.] Remarks on same — - - 43 



CONTENTS. 5 

Page, 

[/.] Effect of Civil War on Maiie Product, and States highest for same 43 

Ig,] Census Returns of Swine in the several U. S-, from 18*3 to 1870 and re- 
marks on same 44 

[ft.] Estimates of Maize Product in the several U S. for years '42. '43, '44, 

'47 and '48, and remarks on same .". 47 

Bushels of Maize Produced in Loval States, 1-8S2, '63, '64 and '65, and 

in Thirty-two suites for 1866.' : „ 50 

Method of U. S. Agricultural Department in making estimates 51 

Estimated acreage, total value, yield per acre and average price in loyal 

States, of Maize Crops for years 1862, '63, '64 and '65, 53 

Remarks on these Crops....™.. 52, 54 to 56 

Inflation of Gold Premium and Maize Prices during the Civil War 56 

Estimated Maize Product of the several States, from 1867 to 1874, and of Acre- 
age from 1866 to 1874, and Remarks on same ..« 57 

Estimate<l Yield to Acre, Average Price and Total Value of Maize in the 

several U, S. from 1866 to 1874 61 

As to Average Value of acre planted in Indian Corn. Remarks on above 

tables „ 63 

Size of Farms and Value of Farm Implements - 67 

Number, Average Price and Value of Swine in the several U. S. from 1864 to 

1872 - 68 to 70 

Same for January, 1876 71 

[j,] Acreage and Product of Maize in Ohio Counties for 1862 and 1872, and 

Average Yield per acre from '47 to '66, and in 1872- 72 

tfe.] Prices in Special Maize Markets of U. S. Republic ».....- «. 73 

2.J Exports of I\Laize and Swine Products 107 

CHAPTER VI. 

Botanical Character and Varieties of Maize .............._....... 135 

CHAPTER VIL 

Uses of Maize ««« 175 

I. Food. 

fa.] Food for the Soil ., „ 175 

lb.] Feeding Domestic Animals and Poultry „..._ 178 

Human F'ood ^ 206 

Roasting or Boiling Ears- „ „ 207 

Drving and Canning Green Corn 209 

Succotash _ „ 209 

Stalk, after Roasted Ears pulled for Syrup ~. 210 

Parched Corn 210 

flA Shelled Corn boiled whole 211 

A.] Hulled Cora - -.. 211 

i] Hominy ™ „..™. _. 211 

j.] Samp „ 212 

'k.] Grinding and Cooking for the Table - ...~ - 212 

L] Hasty Pudding or Mush „ „.. ,. 214 

m.] Maize Bread _ ™ ~ 215 

General Becipes for Corn Bread -.....>. — 219 

Indian Corn Pudding „.. _ 222 

n. Sugar and Svrup from Maize 226 

ni. Whisky from Maize 229 

IV. Starch from Maize ~ „ .- — 251 

V. Oil from Maize „ „ 232 

VI. Mattre-sses from Husks „ «*...™ ™ „ 232 

VU. Paper from Maize Husks .,.« ~~. 233 

CHAPTER Vm. 

Climate suited to Maize Culture ......>,........... 234 

CHAPTER IX. 
Soils proper to Maize Culture „.. 243 



\'A 



6 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER X. 

Page. 

Improvement of Land for Mai^e Culture 2(53 

'ij The Soil must furnish certain Elements 263 

).J Must be fitted to impart these to the Plant 263 

■.1 I/rainage, Ditches and Drain Tiles 265 

i.) Irrigation 268 

'.] (.Ueariug and Fencing New Land 270 

/.J Rotation of Crops 272 

CHAPTER XI. 

Enemies to Maize Culture -.. 279 

CHAPTER XH. 

Large Crops of Maize 205 

'a.l In Jessamine Co., Ky 2U) 

V).t Brief Enumeration of Ohio Prize Crops 25*7 

c.l Fairfield Co., Ohio; Prizes and Mode of Culture 297 

d.] Champaign and Union Co.'*., Ohio, and Prizes and Mode of Culture... 2^7 

'•.] Carroll Co.. Ohio, Prize Crops ; 298 

/.J Hamilton Co., Ohio, Large Crop 298 

f/.| Harrison and Lorain Cos., Ohio, Large Crops and Methods 299 

h..\ Lawrence ■<;< I.. Ohio, Large River Crop ^99 

Premium Crops in N. W Ohio 300 

i.] Large Crops, Ears and Stalks 300 

j.l How One Hundred Bushels to Acre, or more, were raised in Penn'a... 300 

k.] Premium Crop.s in New York 302 

L] Large Crops in Connecticut 3U3 

m.] Mas.sachusetts and Vermont Prize Crops 304 

What Might be Grown on One Acre 304 

n.] Prize Acre on Georgia Swamp Land 305 

o.] Prairie Prize Crops and Methods 306 

p.] Prize Crops in Washington and Trumbull Counties, Ohio 306 

q.l E.xperiment, deep, against shallow Plowing, near Columbus, Ohio 307 

r.J Great Yield on OneAcre, Reported from South Carolina ;;07 

.".I Requisites for Large Yields per Acre 308 

t.] Proper Depth for Planting Maize 310 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Fertilizers- 310 

Section i. 

Light and Heat, and Air 310 

'a.^ Atmosphere, Electricity and Water 311 

b.] Derivation and Definition of the term Manures. Steeps for Seeds 312 

c.j Uses of Manures 313 

(i.J Manures; Organic or Inorganic; Conditions Required of all Manures... 313 

e.] Inorganic Manures Defined, &c - 313 

'/.] Lime; Hydrate and Carbonate 314 

(7.1 Bi-carbonate of Lime, &c 356 

ft.1 Chloride of Calcium 318 

i.[ Chloride, or Oxy-muriate of Lime 319 

jJ Gas Lime « 319 

1-.| Nitrate of Lime - 320 

I.] Oxalate of Lime 320 

[to] Phosphate of Lime, Bone, Earth and Apatite 320 

n.] Silicates of Lime, 322 

o.] Gvpsum 322 

p.] Marl: Clav, Stony and Shell 326 

<7.| Corals and Coral Sand 327 

r.l Coprolites 327 

s.] Magnesia aud Compounds - 328 



CONTENTS. 7 

Page. 

t] Hydrate of Oxide of Potassium, Potash and Compounds 331 

u.] Sodium and Compounds 333 

v.] Silicium and Compounds 334 

!('. ] Aluminum and Compounds 335 

x] Oxides of Iron and Manganese 337 

y.] Ash of Plants 337 

z.] Sulphur and Compounds 340 

,&.] Phosphorus and Compounds 340 

Section ii.— Organic Manures. 

Sub-section 1st. Manures of Vegetable Origin 347 

'a.l Green Crops Plowed in 347 

&.T Stubble and Weeds Plowed in 350 

c.\ Waste Straw and Stalks, and Other Vegetable Refuse 351 

d.J Muck or Peat 3.31 

€.] Charcoal 352 

/.] Soot 353 

g.' Seaweed 353 

h.] Cotton Seed 353 

i.) Spent Tanbark 353 

J.] Tobacco Dust 353 

Subsection 2d.— Manures of Animal Origin 353 

'a 1 Dead Animals „ 353 

6.1 Fish not valuable as Food, and Fish guano or poudrette 354 

c] Blood, &c., dried (poudrette) 355 

d.) Bones ground, &c 356 

[e.l Waste Feathers, hair, &c 356 

[/■.] Excrements of Dojnestic Animals, Deer, Rabbits, &c 357 

((7.) Pigeon Manure 361 

r/i.i Night Soil _ ~ 302 

[i. J Licjuid Manures » 363 

Urine and Sewage of cities 364 

Guano 365 

Bat Manure 369 

Analyses of Guanos, Bone Dust, &c 370 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The Plow 371 

As to the Pick being the first formed 371 

Hesiods Plow .371 

Roman Plows ™ 372 

c.] Supposed First Plow 372 

d.] Early Welsh and Norman Plows 373 

e.f Oriental Plows, those of the Morea, Poland and Castile 373 

'/.] Dutch, Flemish and English Plows ., 374 

g.' Scotch Plow— Principles of English Plow 374 

7(.J Early American Plow 375 

j.J Side Hill Plow.— Mr. Bateham's Description of it, &c 377 

Centre Draft and other plows 378 

Gang, Steel and Prairie Plows 379 

k.^ Plows for stubble and turning under Green Crops; cast Cast-Steel, &c., 379 

I.] Sub-Soil Plows 380 

TO.] Recent Plow Patents ,381 

n.] Recent Side Hill Patents 381 

Premiums for Plows at Ohio Fairs 382 

[o.l Plows at the Centennial in 1876 383 

[p.] Steam Plows; Stationary and Traction Engines for 384 

Steam Plows at Chicago Exhibition, &c 385 

CHAPTER XV. 

Plowing for Maize Crops 386 

[a.] Fall Plowing 386 

[6.1 Plowing Soils wet 387 

[c] Importance of Deep Plowing 387 



[2;j 



O CONTENTS. 

Page. 

d.] Sub-Soil Plowincf 3;i9 

e. I Width iuicl Depili of Furrows ^. 3'.I0 

/.J Fiat or Kidge Plowing 891 

How Ridge.s laid out ^ 392 

g.] Do up .-teep Slopes 391 

h.\ Plow Team —How managed 3y'> 

i. I Pitch of Plow. — How regulated 393 

j J Line and Power of Draft 397 

CHAPTER XVL. 

Harrowing, Rolling and Planting 393 

[a 1 Ancient and Modern Harrow 39S 

[b.] Rollers, Wooden and Iron 400 

[C.J Furrowing out for Planting 401 

[d.] Solving .Seed Corn ., 402 

[e.\ Soaking Seed 402 

I/.] Time of Planting 403 

[a.] Hand and Machine Planting 403 

[h.] Number of Kernels Dropped and left in Hill; How far Apart 405 

Same in Drills _ 406 

[i.J Depth of Planting or Covering 405 

CHAPTER XVII. 

After Culture of Maize .^ 407 

[a.] Maize in Gardens and Small Fields 407 

General Maize Culture 408 

Successive Cultivations; Implements 409 

Commencing with Bull-Tongue Plow 409 

Improved Cultivators 410 

e.J Number of Cultivations Required 411 

Note on Cultivators and Corn Planters 410, 411 

Note on Corn Huskers, Shelters and Bins 412 

Different Methods in Cultivating 413 

As to Deep Plowing in Dry Weather 414 

■/.J When Culture to Cease .» 415 

j7.1 Planting Corn with Tomatoes 415 

h.] Corn and Potatoes Growing Together 415 

i.] Beans and Pumpkins with Cora 416 

./.] Listing „ „ 416 

[Ic.] Irrigation in New Mexico 416 

Irrigation in Colorado 417 

Irrigation in Texas— Best Time 418 

[{.] Navajoe Maize Culture 419 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Cutting Up, Harvesting. &c 419 

'a.] Topping Corn 419 

6.J Cutting Up by the Roots 420 

e.1 Implements for Same 420 

d.] Best Methods of Shocking Corn 421 

e.T How Long Left in Shocks for Curing ~ 422 

/.] Husking, Huskers and Husking Gloves... 422 

//.] Corn Cribs 423 

h..\ Advantages of Corn in the Ear 424 

Standard Weights of Shelled Corn ~ 424 

Shelling Corn by Hand 424 

Corn Shelling Machines 425 

[i.] Corn Mills; Ancient Mills 425 

Buhr stone and Iron Corn Mills 426 

Ij.] Cost of Cultivating Corn 42ii 

[A-.l Shrinkage of Corn 428 

[L] Corn Sowed for Soiling and Fodder 428 

liroom Corn Culture: Statements as to 433 

Late Statistics of Maize and Swine, up to 1875 and 1876 435 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



CHAPTER I. 

PROXIMATE ELEMENTS. 



The first great fact of the human system is the fire 
that keeps up its action. The atmosphere supports this, as 
well as all other fires, by supplying oxygen, one of its two 
chief constituents, nitrogen being the other, and the normal 
proportions of these being one of the former to four of the 
latter in volume. They are not, however, chemically com- 
bined, but only mechanically mixed. Nitrogen, a great 
conservative force in nature, fond of keeping itself distinct, 
acts as an effectual diluent of oxygen, so prone to combina- 
tion, and so intensely energetic. As we inhale a volume of 
air, a quantity of venous blood in the lungs, rich in carbon, 
combines with part of the oxygen of this volume, and forms 
carbonic acid ; while another part is taken up by the glob- 
ules of the blood, now made a fit nutriment for the growing 
or wasted organs, and is driven through the arteries to every 
part of the system. The oxidation of the blood evolves 
heat, which is doubtless also produced by other processes 
within the system. The special heat-producing materials 
are furnished toother than carnivorous animals, in the starch, 
sugar, gum, oil, and dextrine ready formed in the grains, 
grasses, and other vegetable substances on which they feed. 

The second great fact of the system is that repairs are 
constantly made necessary by the waste of the organs. The 

9 



10 INDIAN CORN AND IT3 CULTURE. 

more violent the action of these organs, the greater the 
waste. To keep them in condition requires nitrogen, com- 
bined with carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, and also various 
mineral substances in small proportions. This nitrogen does 
not appear to be derived from the atmosphere in its simple 
form, but only when combined ; and it is said to be ready 
for combination only when in presence of decomposing 
matter, animal or vegetable; one of its most important com- 
pounds being ammonia, the result of its union with hydrogen. 
It seems a most wonderful provision of nature, that this 
essential element, which is all around us, and enters our 
bodies at every breath, to keep us from living too fast, 
should be only willing to give up its independence, and sup- 
ply matter for making new, or restoring wasted forms, when 
some organized substance contiguous is going to ruin. But, 
ordinarily, the animal system has not power to convert oxy- 
gen, hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen into those proximate 
elements which are necessary to the repair of the wasted or- 
gans. The simple elements must first be resolved, through 
the agency of the vegetable world, into the proximates. Of 
these, albumen, the principle of the white of an egg, seems 
the most important, being largely found in the brain and 
other parts of the body. Fibrine is the chief material of the 
muscles. Caseine is that element of milk from which the 
young animal receives the constituents of its blood. Albu- 
men, fibrine, and caseine are called compounds oi proteine — 
the "starting point" of all the animal tissues — a compound 
of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, in which the rela- 
tive proportions of these constituents are invariable. These 
compounds of proteine, which contain a small proportion 
of sulphur or phosphorus, or both, are produced in the vege- 
table organism, and "out of them the various tissues and 
parts of the body are developed by the vital force, with the 
aid of the oxygen of the atmosphere and the elements of 



1X1)1AN CORX AND ITS CULTURE. 11 

water." Water is composed of one part by volume and 
eight parts by weight of oxygen, and two parts by volume 
and one by weight of hydrogen. Some mineral matters are 
utilized in forming the tissues. Albumen, fibrine, and ca- 
seine are so largely found in the blood as to be considered 
its proper, constituents. They are required to be ready 
formed in the food, whether vegetable or animal. There is 
another nitrogenized compound, produced especially in the 
grains, called gluten, which is of great use in the animal , 
economy. It gives the dough of wheat flour that adhesive- 
ness which makes it rise so well for bread. When gluten is 
dissolved in alcohol, and water is added, there falls to the 
bottom of the vessel a white substance resembling albumen, 
caWed glu/ifie, or vegetable gelatine. Vegetable fibrine and 
vegetable caseine are also components of gluten, which 
sometimes contains also a fatty substance. 

We have now mentioned four nitrogenized or flesh form- 
ing proximates — three simple and one compound — and five 
other organic substances, ready formed in vegetables, and 
not containing nitrogen — starch, sugar, gum, dextrine, and 
oil, which are called heat or fat producing compounds. Oil 
is especially fitted for the production of animal fat, which, 
as a rule,* contains no nitrogen. Starch is a well known sub- 
stance, insoluble in cold water, which seems also, accord- 
ing to a distinguished physiologist, after undergoing some 
changes, to assist in forming the bile, one of the most im- 
portant of the animal fluids. He asserts that brain and 
nervous matter are " formed in a manner similar to that in 
which bile is produced, either by the separation of a highly 
nitrogenized compound from the elements of blood, or by 
the combination of a highly nitrogenized product of the vital 

* One of the exceptions is the fat of the brain, mainly a compound 
of soda with cerebric acid, which contains 2^^ per cent, of nitrogen. 
— IJebi^''s Animal Chemistry. 



12 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

process with a non-azotized compound (probably a fatty 
body)." 

Dextrine, into which starch is converted by "diastase 
and acids," has a gummy appearance; has the same compo- 
nents as starch, and easily changes into sugar. 

INORGANIC MATERIALS. 

Phosphorus is found in the bones and elsewhere, combined 
with oxygen, z.^ phosphoric acid ^ and this usually with lime or 
magnesia as a.phosphate. Sulphur is utilized in the muscles, 
hair, etc.; chlorine in the gastric Juice, milk, etc. (it being one 
of the constituents of chloride of sodium, or common salt). 
Other inorganic materials are compounds of oxygen with 
metals; as potassa, soda, lime, magnesia, and silica, being ox- 
ides respectively of potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, 
andsilicium, Potassa (potash), and soda are found in the bile 
and other fluids; lime, in the bones, combined with car- 
bonic and phosphoric acids, (carbonates and phosphates). 
Silica or silex is one of the components of hair.'^ The red 
globules of the blood owe their coloring matter to iron. 
Some other inorganic elements, 2i^ fluorine, are found in min- 
ute quantities in the system. All these substances are fur- 
nished by the grains and other vegetable substances; but 
common salt seems necessary to keep the living frame in the 
best condition, and is very much prized by man and his do- 
mestic animals. 

The process of digestion in the human system may be 
briefly described as follows : The food, mixed with saliva 
from the salivary glands, after being well masticated and 
swallowed, is shaken up in the stomach by the contraction 
of its muscular fibres, and, being dissolved by the gastric 
juice from the lining membrane, is reduced to the state of 



* Cutter's Anatomy. 



INDIAN CORX AND IT9 CULTURE. 13 

chyme. This, in successive portions, is transmitted into the 
duodenum (the highest part of the intestinal tube), which 
suppHes the chyme with mucus, while it receives bile from 
the //zYr and pancreatic juice from the siveet bread, and be- 
comes diyle, (except what passes as residuum into the large 
intestines to be excreted). The lacteal vessels, (their ex- 
tremities abutting on the upper part of the small intestine), 
absorb the chyle, and transmit it through the mesenteric 
glands into the thoracic duct, which conveys it to a large 
vein on the left side of the neck, where the internal jugular 
vein joins the subclavian.* There the chyle is mixed with 
venous blood, and then carried to the right auricle of the 
heart, the motion of which drives it into its right ventricle. 
From the right ventricle it is forced into the pulmonary artery, 
which conveys it to the lungs, where it meets the inhaled 
air, and is changed from venous into arterial blood of a 
bright red color. The pulmonary veins then carry it to the 
left auricle of the heart, from which it is forced into the left 
ventricle, and then into the aorta, or great arterial trunk, and 
through its branches permeating the whole system, into the 
capillary blood vessels, from which the different tissues of 
the living frame take up the needful new matter. The old 
Avaste matter of the tissues is removed by the lymphatic ves' 
sels, which carry it, or a portion of it, into the thoracic duct, 
to be mixed with the venous blood in its return to the heart. 
The lungs and kidneys aid each other in purifying the blood ; 
the former by removing an excess of carbon, the latter by 
draining it of chemical compounds produced as the change 
of matter goes on. 

As to the processes of digestion in domestic animals, the 
discussion will be more proper in treating of cattle and other 
feeding. It may be said here, that however little \S\q. porcine 



'^' See Bushnan's Physiology. 



14 ISDIAN CORN AXD IT3 CULTUEE. 

system has in common with the human physical system, the 
digfestive apparatus has a similar simplicity in each ; that the 
horse has a comparatively small stomach, calculated for 
rapid digesjtion of more concentrated food taken in more 
frequently, and developing more heat and activity ; the 
aids to his stomach being of large size and great power ; 
that the ox, cow, and sheep have each four stomachs, fitted 
for receiving large quantities at once ; the food suited to 
them being coarser and more bulky, and the power of rumi- 
nation to reduce it being a special gift. The crop and giz- 
zard of the fowl are too well known to need mention. 

As material for the digestive process, a due proportion of 
animal and vegetable products is probably best. Leaving 
out of view Nature's milk for her newly born, an exclusive 
diet of animal food is not favorable, except for the carnivora. 
Grain, that furnishes bread as well as forage, is the great 
resource of nations that improve most rapidly in all that en- 
nobles humanity. The hunter lives from hand to mouth, 
and slaughters immercifuUy and often wastefully, and dies 
out before the march of the planter. The great advantage 
of animal food is that it requires less preparation, when 
freshly killed, to prepare it for the stomach. Some kinds 
are more stimulating ; others may be better fitted for weak 
digestive organs than most vegetable food; but there is an 
excessive use of animal food which is unfavorable to health 
and good morals. What are technically called vegetables 
stand not far off from grain in the service they render to 
man and his subordinates. Grain has the advantage of 
being both seed and food in a highly concentrated form. 
Wheat has the broadest reputation in this respect; yet, 
though it has attained a much wider usefulness as a bread 
crop, it can not compare with Indian corn in the extent and 
variety of its uses as food for man and his domestic animals. 
This will more fully appear when we have considered the 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



15 



history and varieties of wa/s^ — a name for the latter grain 
more accordant with its origin. Although no chemical an- 
alysis can reveal its desirable qualities with such truthfulness 
as the past and present of Indian corn, it may be more in 
keeping with the foregoing to give here certain results of ul- 
timate analysis, as follows, (being condensed from tables ap- 
pended to Liebig''s Animal Chemistry, published in this coun- 
try more tlian thirty years ago) : 



HEAT PRODUCING OR NON-AZOTIZED COMPOUNDS. 



Ill loo parts, by weight 
of 


Starch from 
Waize. 


Grape 

SUjjar. 


Cane 

Sugar. 


Hogs' 
Lard. 


Gum. 


Carbon, . 
Hydrogen, , 
Oxygen, . . . 


44.27 

6.67 

49.06 


36.80 

7.01 

56.19 


42.39 

6.53 
51.07 


79.098 

I 1. 146 

9.756 


42-37 

6.63 

50.92 



The proportions of cane sugar, hogs' lard, and gum, aver- 
aged from several authorities quoted by Liebig. Azotized 
(from azotes describes those compounds containing nitrogen. 

II. 

FLESH FORMING OR AZOTIZED PROXIMATES. 
When it is considered that the analyses can only be approximately correct^ 
the slight difference in the figures for these substances, said to be identi- 
cal in composition^ will be accounted for. 



In 100 parts of 



Carbon, 
Hydrogen, 
Mitrogen, 
Oxygen, 

Sulpliur & 
Phosphorus 



FiBRINE, 



Animal. 
Scheter. 



54-45 
7.069 
15.762 



-715 



Vegetable. 
Scherer. 



54.60 

7.302 
15.809 



22.08' 



Albumen. 



Animal. 
Scherer. 



55-46 
7.201 

15-673 



21-655 



Vegetable 

from Wheat 

Jones. 



55.00 

7-23 
15.092 



21.84 



Caseine. 



Animal 

from Fresh 

Milk. 



54-823 

7-153 

15.628 



Vegetable. 
Scherer. 



54-138 

7.156 

15.672 



Oxygen & Sulphur. 
22.394 j 23.034 



16 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 



It will be seen that fibrine and albumen are credited with 
both sulphur and phosphorus ; caseine, with sulphur only. 

Composition of proteine averaged from seven analyses by 
Scherer: 

III. 



In loo Parts— BY Weight. 


The Proteine Samples Taken, 


Carbon, . . . 54.983 
Hydrogen, . . . 7.085 
Nitrogen, . . . 15.809 
Oxygen, . . . .22.118 


1st, from the crystalline lens. 

2d, from albumen. 

3d, from fibrine. 

4th and 5th, from hair, 

6th and 7th, from horn. 


99-995 



CHAPTER II, 

COMPARATIVE VALUE OF MAJZE AS FOOD. 

ALYSIS. 



RESULTS OF AN- 



These will depend very much on the variety analyzed, its 
ripeness, or degree of dryness, and other circumstances, as 
well as the skill of the operator. Sir Humphrey Davy, one 
of the earliest analysts (U, S. P. O., 1855), credits maize 
with about 77 per cent, of nutritive matter, as compared 
with the 95 per cent, of wheat. As the term "nutritive 
matter," however, with late writers, has generally a tech- 
nical meaning, confining it to the flesh forming elements of 
food, his statement can not easily be placed by the side of 
later analyses. Two of M. Payen's are referred to in the 
Ag'l Reports; the first rating the quantity of oil in maize 
very high, and its nitrogenized elements very low. A critic 
mentions this as an error resulting from a misapprehension 
of the effect of ether employed to dissolve the oil. Another 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 17 

of his is quoted in the Report for 1865, which gives maize 
about 71^ parts in the 100 of starch, dextrine, and glucose ; 
I2i^ of gluten and other nitrogenous matters; 8| of fatty 
matter; 5,-^^^ of cellulose; and i)^ of silica, phosphates of 
lime and magnesia, and soluble salts of potash and soda. 
Water, an item in most analyses, is not included. Professor 
Johnston, a British lecturer on Agricultural Science, credits 
maize with starch, gum, and sugar, 70 parts in 100; gluten, 
albumen, etc., 12 ; fatty matter, 5 to 9 ; husk or woody fibre, 
6; other matters, i}4', water, 14. This is more favorable 
than M. Payen's statement; for, if a similar quantity of 
water had been included in the latter' s analysis, it would 
have reduced his other items considerably. 

As early as 1847, Dr. Charles T. Jackson, of Boston, was 
noticed as having found more starch, flour, and albuminous 
matters in Southern white maize, and more oil and gluten in 
the yellow, hard maize of the North. Some of his analyses 
Will be found in United States Agricultural Report, 1857. 
Dr. Salisbury, of Albany, N. Y., is a distinguished analyst 
of this and other products. His analyses of five varieties 
of Indian corn appear in Agricultural Report, 1849-50, and 
will be quoted herein under the head of varieties. Various 
other analyses of the maize plant, in its different stages, and 
of its different parts, are scattered through the Reports, 
some of which we shall use in what are deemed appropriate 
places. The greater part of them, however, are designed to 
represent the fattening properties of this plant, or rather its 
fitness as food for domestic animals. Those varieties most 
used as human food seem generally to be left in the back- 
ground. Aside from corn meal, for a long time so large an 
item of consumption in the South and other parts of the 
Union, the use of this grain as hominy, and green corn 
boiled or roasted, has been very considerable, even in the 
cities, where wheat flour, in the shape of bakers' bread 



18 



INDIAN CORN AND 1T8 CULTURE. 



and pastry, has such predominance. Some analyses of S7veet 
corn have shown a very large proportion of nitrogenous 
matters, as well as sugar, though very little starch, as com- 
pared with other varieties. =i^ It is asserted that a sample of 
Golden Sioux contained 1 6^ percent, of albumen, caseine, 
and gluten; and a small white Flint, 76^ per cent, of the 
fat producers — sugar, starch, oil, and gum ; and that differ- 
ent analyses of maize show a difference of 6 to 8 per cent, 
in the albuminous and flesh forming substances, and of 15 
to 16 per cent, in the fat and heat producing elements. — 
U, S. Agricultural Report, 1864. 

The following shows the range of different classes of items, 
in analyses, from U. S. Agricultural Reports for 1843 and 
1844, and 1847 to 1871 inclusive: 



IV. 



Ik 100 Parts. 



Nitrogenous or flesh forming substances, 
Non-nitrogenous or fat " •' 

Salts or mineral matters, 
Fibre, etc., ...... 

Water, 



Maize. 



7 to i6j^ 

60 1 < to So 

1.31 to 2 

5 

9 to 15 



Wheat. 



112^^ to 20 
50 to 68^.4; 

1.2 to 3.02 

2.61 to 15 
14.3 to 15.26 



*See Prof. Norton on Agriculture. 



IXDIAN CORN AXD ]T3 CULTUKE. 



19 



S pa 

V) w 



:ix 





* « « « « u. 




M t, « « « <o 


V 

o 

o 


m m •*■ o> <o >o 






if^ 



>^ 



v» a i; 



o •♦ ■<■ 



iR 



^ 



.J.J= u 



^ o hc 
«J c c 
C U-- 



^ < 



20 



INDIAN CORN A.VD ITS CULTURE. 



Some writers designate the nitrogenous principle of maize 

as zein. 

As to the inorganic elements of maize and maize stalks, 

the result of several analyses is that the grain has lyi to 2 
per cent, of ash (after burning), and the stalks nearly 5 per 
cent. The quantity of ash varies with the place of cultiva- 
tion ; varies also in different plants, and different parts of 
the same plant ; that of the grain being largely phosphates, 
lime, magnesia, and potash ; that of the stalks largely silica. 
6000 grains of corn yield 100 of ashes. 
The following table, with the columns headed as follows : 



VI. 







Indian Corn. 




Whc-it. 


Rye. 


Oats. 


















a 


6 


c 


d 


e 


f 


S 


Potash and Soda, - 


30.S 


32.48 


P23.92 

S22.5Q 


27-93 
1.8^ 


33-87 


33-91 


19.25 


Phosphoric Acid, 


501 


44-87;*35-5 


45.6 


46 


46-34 


18.19 


Lime, 


1-3 


1.44 


0.16 


2.28 


3-4 


4.19 


3-92 


Magnesia, 


17 


16.22 


2.41 


14.98 


12-3 


II. 17 


7.70 


Silica, . 


0.80 


1.44 


9.50 


1.88 


3 35 


3.36 


47.08 


Sulphuric Acid, 




2.77 


4 3« 


1.30 


0.33 


0.71 


1^9 


Oxide of Iron, . 




0.30 




1.26 


0.79 


1-25 


64 


Chlorine, 






0.40 


1.42 


0.09 




to. 34 


Organic matter, . 






36 










Totals, . 


100 


100.12 


99-23 


98.48 


100.13 


100.93 


98.41 



Ashes, Wheat 1.67 to 1.93, Rye 1.36 to 1.60, Oats 2.9 to 3.02. 
•Phosphate. tChloride of Sodium and Potassium. 

a — Analysis of maize ash, from Letellier in U. S. P. U. 
Report, i860, the plant analyzed cultivated at Bechelbronu 
b — Average of two analyses of same, from U. S. P. O., i860. 
c — Dr. Salisbury's analysis of ash of flint corn. 
d — Average of nine analyses, ash of maize, from E. Wolff. 
e — Average of thirty two analyses of ash of wheat. 
f — Average of three analyses of ash of rye. 
g — Average of seven analyses ash of oats grain. 
All mentioned in the U. S. Agricultural Reports. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



21 



The analysis of maize straw in the following table is from 
U. S. Agricultural Report, i860, and credited as a mean of 
two analyses by Hruschauer, as of Styria, Other analyses, 
by American authorities, of maize stalks, leaves, cobs, etc , 
from the U. S. Agricultural Reports, may be quoted herein- 
after. 

VII. 

Analysis of Maize Strata, compared with Wheat Straw, averaged frotn 
European and American authorities. 



In 100 


Parts. 


Maize Straw. 


Wheat Stra%v. 


Totash, . 




9.62 


13-07 


Soda, . 


. 


26.30 


0.71 


Magnesia, 


. 


6.64 


3.01 


Lime, 


. 


7-97 


6.23 


Phosphoric Acid, . 


. 


17.08 


4.44 


Sulphuric Acid, 


• 


Il9 


4.05 


Silica, . 


. 


26.97 


66.92 


Peroxide of Iron, 


• . . . 


0.81 


0.74 


Chloride of Sodium 


and Chlorine, 


3-42 


1.00 




100.00 

4.40 


100.17 


Ashes, . 


4.S5 



The above table shows the superior virtues of Indian corn 
fodder for feeding domestic animals. The amount of phos- 
phoric acid is nearly four times that of wheat straw, and of 
soda more than twenty times. It is the right material for 
the heavy bones of the ox, and for making good his enor. 
mous consumption of bile. The large proportion of silica 
in wheat straw is doubtless necessary to insure a firm stand- 
ing during growth. 



22 JMDIAN COR.V AND ITS CULTPBE, 

CHAPTER III. 

EARLY HISTORY OF THE MAIZE PLANT. 

The origin of Indian corn, as well as that of wheat and 
other grains, is hid in the mist of long gone ages. Was it 
indigenous to the Old or New World? Some have claimed 
it for the former, supposing it to be the Roman _/ar,* one of 
the three chief grains credited to ancient Roman agriculture, 
or the bread corn mentioned in Isaiah xxviii. Others have 
conjectured that the Mohammedans brought it into Asia 
Minor after the taking of Constantinople. The only ground 
for this last supposition is the name it commonly bore through- 
out the continent, of He de Turquoise. The best authorities, 
however, agree that it was first known to the Old World after 
the discovery of America. One or two statements have 
been made to the contrary, but in 1853, it was denied that 
it was mentioned by any ancient author, or found in any 
ancient monument, or represented in any ancient work of 
art, of the Old World. The reverse of all this is true in re- 
gard to its connection Avith the New World, The New 
World records and monuments, and paintings and sculptures 
testify to its existence within its limits from time immemorial. 
But this grain that was not mentioned in the Orius Sanitatis, 
of Joan di Cuba, a singular work on plants, trees, etc., 
issued in 147 i,t was so much of a novelty, a few years 
later, when imported by Columbus and his successors, 
that it spread very rapidly throughout Europe and Asia. 



* See Loudon's Encychpedia of Agriculture. 

t See Wilson's Rural Cyclopedia ; Prescott*s, Fertt ,- U. S. P. O., 1 853, 
Indian Corn ; ditto, 1859 / Dr. Unger's Plants for Food of Man, etc\ 
Lindley's Botany ; D. J. lirowne's >^/<7«('rr. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 23 

Had it been a native of either of these continents, its culture 
would have been by this time much more fully wrought into 
the habits of their peoples, and its uses and advantages bet- 
ter understood and appreciated. But, the better European 
authors now admit that it is a gift of the New World to the 
Old; and Loudon, the Encyclopedist, describes it as the 
New World's best gift, giving food to a greater number of the 
human race than any other of the cerealia, except rice. 

{a) Incidents of its Discovery by Columbus and his Succes- 
sors. — Cat Island, of the Bahamas, furnished the first landing 
place for the discoverer of America. It was then the Gua- 
nahani of the natives. In answer to his inquiries for gold, 
they pointed to the south. Several of them accompanied 
him in his voyage thither. Touchmg at a point on the coast 
of Cuba, he sent an embassy to the king, in the interior, 
which returned with the report of fields cultivated with sweet 
pepper, and this strange grain, which in Hayti, the island 
next visited, was called mais or mahiz. When, in 1494, the 
natives of Hayti were brouglit under the yoke of the Span- 
iards, the former combined to* starve out the intruders by 
neglecting the culture of this and their other usual food 
plants, and came near starving themselves. In his third 
voyage (1498), Columbus sailed inside of Trinidad, and re- 
ceived from the natives presents of maize, bread, and other 
eatables. In his fourth voyage (1502), in August, he was 
doubtless similarly entertained ; for he found, as he sailed 
along the coast of Honduras, near the cape of that name, 
one hundred Indians, laden with the same comforts, wiih 
the addition of fish and fowl. In October of the same year, 
on the coast of Puerto Bello, three small islands and the 
main land opposite were seen cultivated with Indian corn 
and fruits. Passing Veragua, in 1503, he formed a settle- 
ment near the river Belen, where the plantain and pine 
apple and maize were abundant. The Cacique of Comagra, 



24 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

near Darien, whose dwelling was 150 paces long and 80 paces 
wide, with storerooms, in one of which were beverages made 
of Indian corn, found a visitor in Vasco Nunez, who after- 
ward (15 13) discovered the Pacific Ocean. It was Pedro 
Martyr, a cotemporary of Columbus, who published an ac- 
count of his first voyage, and stated that mais was the name 
given by the natives to the Indian corn found cultivated 
among them. 

{b) Maize as first seen by the Conquerors of Mexico and Peru. — 
In his first adventure (15 18), when Cortes reached the 
heights that revealed, in the distance, the capital, Tenoch- 
titlan, he witnessed, beyond the vast intervening forests, the 
fields of this noblest of cereals in its most glowing colors. 
When he partook of the hospitality of Montezuma, he had 
a view of its products in the course of solid dishes, followed 
by one of sweetmeats and pastry. Out of maize flour, eggs, 
and sugar from the aloe, the Aztec cooks made famous 
dishes* Cortes found ready dressed in the markets of 
Mexico, "pastry, bread of Indian corn, cakes, and confec- 
tionery." Pizarro, who landed at Panama, in 1526, and 
conquered a march through Peru, in 1533, was fre- 
quently charmed with the beauty of the hillsides, clothed 
with this grain in all its stages, from the green and tender 
ear to the yellow ripeness of harvest. The Peruvians, it 
was stated, although acquainted with the various methods 
of preparing maize, did not use it for bread except at festi- 
vals, but made a sort of honey from the stalk, and strong 
drink from the grain. Four leagues from Cuzco, the capital 
of Peru, was Yucay, the favorite residence of the Incas. 
Here, at a great elevation above the sea, was a natural gar- 
den full of the richest plants and flowers of the temperate 
overhanging the torrid zone. In the midst of it was the 

*See Prescott. 



IJIDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 25 

artificial *' garden of gold and silver," with an artificial field 
of Indian corn, in all its beauty of outline, faithfully sculp- 
tured in these precious metals. The Inca was captured; 
and, to meet the blood-thirsty adventurer's demand for a 
ransom, this wonderful work of art was broken up and 
melted down.* 

(c) Maize as a Tradition Among the Ancient Peruvians. — 
The cultivation of maize in Peru extends back of all rec- 
ords. The Peruvians were an agricultural people. At one 
of their great annual festivals, the Inca proceeded to the 
environs of Cuzco, and, in presence of all the people, 
turned up the earth with a golden implement that answered 
for a plow. As the ancients of the East had traditions of 
the gift to mankind of their several bread plants, with the 
right methods of culture, by their gods \ East India of 
the gift by Bjrahma ; Egypt, by Isis ; Greece, by Demeter ; 
and Italy, by Ceres — so had the Peruvians of the gift of 
maize by Manco Capac. 

This first of the Incas taught some of his subjects the arts 
of house building and tillage. Their country was part of 
those vast elevations not far from Lake Titicaca, which is 
overlooked by one of the highest mountains in the world, 
and though in the Torrid Zone, was surrounded by tracts too 
cold for maize production. But they leveled the land and 
cleared it of rocks and stones ; brought manure from afar 
and applied it to their gardens, which were artificially cov- 
ered with good earth, and maize culture became a success. 
Of its products they sent presents to the Temple of the Sun, 
at Cuzco, and to the Select Virgins, chosen for their royal 
lineage and beauty — a sacred order, completely shut out 
from the world at their home in that city, and visited only 
by the Queen and her daughters. These oiferings the Vir- 

* U. S. P O. Report, 1853. 

3 



26 INDIAN COKN AND ITS CULTURE. 

gins had orders to distribute in all other sacred places 
through the realm, some being planted in gardens belonging 
to the Temple and other public edifices, and some divided 
among the people. A portion stored in the royal and public 
granaries was believed to possess a divine virtue, giving 
increase to the corn with which it was mixed, preserving it, 
and making it more wholesome for human food.* During 
the month corresponding to our July the subjects of the Inca 
made ready the ground for planting, and emptied their 
chica (a drink brewed from maize) into the aqueducts and 
rivers, as a sacrifice to obtain sufficient water for their fields. 
fDuring the next month {Capac Asi'iua), our August, they 
began planting corn, &c., which they finished in their last 
month {Capac Raymi) November. At the feast, Cusquic 
Raymi (Winter Solstice), they prayed the Sun to shield the 
planted corn from excessive heat. In Agrihuay (April), 
which signifies an ear of corn with divers colors, the harvest 
came in, with dancing, music and out-pourings of chica, and 
the distribution of premiums for the finding of certain colors 
in grains of full ears, the lucky ones receiving a national 
ovation. In Aymuray (May), the corn was taken to the pub- 
lic depositories amid festive games, and the cultivators began 
pulling up the stubble. But their greatest feast was Jntep 
Raymi, at the Summer Solstice , which was preceded by a 
three days' fast on a little white corn and a certain herb. 
Bands of women were detailed from the provinces to cook 
, for the great throngs at the capital, and especially to knead 
the Zancu, a cake of boiled maize, eaten only at the solemn 
feasts. The same food, with other dishes, was prepared for 
the Court of the Incas by the Virgins of the Sun. The In- 
dians of Peru were not mere Sun worshippers. In harvest 



"•■ Garcilasso de Vega, a descendant of the Incas, and early Peruvian 
historian ; quoted in Allen's American Farm Book. 
tPeruvian Antiquities. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 27 

time they offered to the Earth corn and chica, and prayed 
for a good harvest. They threw corn into the river they 
were about to cross, or fish in, to propitiate its god. Among 
the idols of these Indians were the Canopas, to some of which 
Zara (maize) gave figure — such as stones cut in the shape of 
ears of corn. Idols made of cornstalks and clothed with an 
Indian mantle, were called Zaramana. Cornstalks with 
many or double ears, and ears with grains of many colors, 
or so ranged in rows as to form a cone, were held sacred, 
but not as deities. The ancient Peruvians buried with their 
dead, in round earthen pots, chica and corn as food. 

{d^ Myihs of the North American Indians touching the same 
corn. — The tradition of the Ojibwas, as given by School- 
traft, is a fair illustration.* 

"A young man went out into the woods to fast, at that 
period of life when youth is exchanged for manhood. He 
built a lodge of boughs, in a secluded place, and painted 
his face of a sombre hue. By day, he amused himself walk- 
ing about, looking at the various shrubs and plants; and at 
night, he lay down in his bower, which being open, he could 
look up into the sky. He sought a gift from the Master 
of Life, and he hoped it would be something to benefit his 
race. On the third day he became too weak to leave the 
lodge, and as he lay gazing upwards, he saw a spirit come 
down in the shape of a beautiful young man, dressed in 
green and having green plumes on his head, who told him to 
ari'se and wrestle with him, as this was the only way in 
which he could obtain his wishes. He did so, and found 
his strength renewed by the effort. This visit and the trial 
of wrestling were repeated for four days, the youth feeling, 
at each trial, that, although his bodily strength declined, a 
moral and supernatural energy was imparted, which promised 
him the final victory. On the third day his Celestial visitor 



28 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

spoke to him. " To-morrow," said he, " will be the seventh 
day of your fast, and the last time I shall wrestle with you ; 
you will triumph over me and gain your wishes. As soon 
as you have thrown me down, strip off my clothes and bury 
me on the spot, in soft and fresh earth. When you have 
done this, leave me, but come occasionally to visit the place 
to keep the weeds from growing. Once or twice cover me 
with fresh earth." He then departed, but returned the next 
day, and, as he had predicted, was thrown down. The 
young man punctually obeyed his instructions in every par- 
ticular, and soon had the pleasure of seeing the green plumes 
of his sky visitor shooting up through the ground. He 
carefully weeded the earth and kept it fresh and soft, and, 
in due time, was rewarded by beholding the matured plant, 
bending with its golden fruit, and gracefully waving its green 
leaves and yellow tassels in the wind. He then invited the 
parents to the spot to behold the new plant. " It is Monda- 
min," replied his father; "it is the spirit's grain." They 
immediately prepared a feast and invited their friends to 
partake of it, and this is the origin of Indian corn." 

{e) Maize in the Early American Colonies. — The first 
European settlement made in the territory of Pennsylvania, 
was in 1584, and rich fields of maize were even then 
found cultivated by the natives. The aborigines taught, 
(U. S. Agricultural Report, '59), the original Dutch and 
English settlers in America the uses and culture of maize, 
and they gave names to many of its varieties. In North 
America it was first successfully cultivated by the English in 
1608, on James River ; the colonists of the London Company 
following the methods then practiced by the Indians. Two 
hundred to a thousand fold was said to have been the yield 
on a crop of thirty or forty acres raised near Jamestown by 
the Colonists. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 29 

{/^Captain Joh?i StniWs Account of Indian Maize Cul- 
ture.^ — " The Indians divide the year into four seasons. Their 
winter some call Popatiow ; spring, Cattapeuk ; the summer, 
Cohattayough ; the earing of their corn, Nepinough ; the har- 
vest and fall of leaf, Taguitock. The greatest labor they take 
is in planting their corn, for the country naturally is over- 
grown with wood. To prepare the ground, they bruise the 
bark of the trees near the root ; then they scorch the roots 
with fire so that they grow no more. The next year, with a 
crooked piece of wood, they beat up the weeds by the roots, 
and in that mould they plant their corn. They make a hole 
in the ground with a stick, and into it they put four grains 
of wheatf and two of beans. These holes they make four 
feet, one from another. Their women and children do con- 
tinually keep it with weeding, and when it is grown middle- 
high they hill it about like a hop-yard. In April they begin 
to plant, but their chief plantation is in May, and so they 
continue until the middle of June. What they plant in 
April they reap in August; for May, in September; for June, 
in October. Evdry stalk of their corn commonly beareth 
two ears ; some three ; seldom any four ; many but one, and 
some none. Every ear, ordinarily, hath between two hun- 
dred and five hundred grains. The stalk, being green, hath 
a sweet juice in it, somewhat like the sugar-cane, which is 
the cause that, when they gather their corn green, they suck 
the stalks ; for, as we gather green peas, so do they their 
corn, being green, which excels their old. They plant also 
peas they call assentamens. Their corn they roast in the ear 
green, and bruising it in a mortar of wood with a polt, lap 
it in rolls in the leaves of their corn, and so boil it for a 
dainty. They also preserve that corn late planted, that will 
not ripe, by roasting it in hot ashes, the heat thereof drying 



*See his History of Virginia, &c. tMaize. 



30 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 

it. In winter they esteem it, being boiled with beans for a 
rare dish they call Pausa Rowmena. Their old wheat* they 
first steep a night in hot water, in the morning pounding it 
in a mortar. They use a small basket for their Temmes,t 
then pound again the great, and so separatmg by d.ashing 
their hands in the basket, receive the flour in a platter made 
of wood, scraped to that form with burning and shells. 
Tempering this flour with water, they make it either in cakes, 
covering them with ashes until they be baked, and then 
washing them in pure water, they presently dry with their own 
heat, or else boil them in water, eating the broth with the 
bread, which they call Ponap. The groutes and pieces of the 
',orn remaining, by fanning in a platter or m the wind, the 
bran they boil three or four hours with Avater, which is an 
ordinary food they call Ustaiahamen. But some, more 
thrifty than cleanly, do burn the core of the ear to powder, 
which they call Pungnough, mingling that in their meal, but 
it never tasted well m bread nor broth. In May, also, 
amongst J:heir corn, they plant Pumpeo?is." 

Under date of May 28, 1620, Captain Smith asserts that, 
" Whatsoever is said against the Virginia corn, they find it 
doth nourish better than any provision that is sent thither." 

{£) Maize and the Pilgrim Fathers. — The Plymouth Colonists, 
a few days after their landing at Cape Cod, in 1620, are 
said to have stumbled on a quantity of Indian corn, buried 
in the ear, after the manner of the natives, near the site of 
a recent hut, under hillocks of raised earth, which were at 
first mistaken for graves. In 1621 the Pilgrims, now settled 
at Plymouth, had a visit from the Indians, Samoset and 
Squanto, who gave them lessons in corn -planting and manur- 
ing. They obtained a good yield from twenty acres in 
maize. In the same year, Messrs. Winslow and Hopkins 

■•'Maize. tSieve. 



ISDIAX COEJJ AND ITS CULTURE. 31 

were feasted by the Indians at Namasket on corn-bread 
called viaziufn. In 1629 Massachusetts Bay produced fifty- 
two hogsheads of this corn, seven bushels each, from thir- 
teen gallons of seed — two hundred and twenty- four-fold. 

(Ji) Prices of Indian Corn in the Colonies of Virginia and 
Massachusetts Bay. — In 1 62 1 maize sold in Virginia for 2s. 6d. , 
or 62 cents per bushel. This was two years after the first 
General Assembly for that Colony was called by Governor 
Yardley, the result of which was a great increase of private 
enterprise. The Records of the Colony of Massachusetts 
Bay state that on the 28th of September, 1630, at a Court 
of Assistants, it was ordered "that noe person inhabitting 
within the lymitts of this patent shall, either directly or indi- 
rectly, give, sell, trucke or send away any Indian corn to 
any English without the lymitts of this patent, or to any 
Indian whatsoever, without license from the Governor and 
■Assistants." In June, 1631, persons were prohibited from 
buying corn out of ships coming into the bay without such 
leave. October 8th, corn was made a legal tender, unless 
money or heaver was expressly named. 1633, April ist, at 
a court held at Boston, it was ordered that the " price of 
corn, formerly restrained to 6s. the bushell, is now sett at 
liberty to be sold as men can agree." November 5, price 
set at 6s. till next court, 1634, March 4, price fixed at 5s. 
in payment of taxes — no Indian corn to be sold above 6s. per 
bushel, under penalty of forfeiture. April i, price left open ; 
in September, 1636, March and April, 1637, price 
fixed at 5s. for taxes, and at last date, same for all sub- 
sequent bargains ; but on ist of August, " price of corn set 
at liberty." Nov. 2, it fell to 3^5. for taxes. In 1638 those 
planting were to secure their corn in day-time, but owners 
of cattle hurting the crop at night to pay damage. 1640, 
May 13, "Good ould Indian corn growing hear 5s. the 



32 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

bushell." In October, 1641, the price was again set at 
liberty. Servants and workmen's wages were ordered to be 
paid in corn ; if parties could not agree on the price, it was 
to be " valued by two indifferent freemen, to be chosen, ihe 
one by the master, the other by the servant or workman, 
and if they can not agree, then a third man is to be chosen 
by the next Magistrate," &c. At a General Court in March, 

1648, Benedict Arnold was given leave to take up fifty bar- 
rels of Indian corn for " suppliing ye Indians," who were 
to pay in wampum. In the following May, there not being 
sufficient for necessary " sustentation " of the inhabitants 
in all the towns for two months, this and other grains were 
forbidden to be transported out of the jurisdiction. In May, 

1649, a committee was appointed to secure a magazine of 
corn. In October of the years successively from 1647 to 

1650, Indian corn, for taxes, was 3s. per bushel. In 1650 
"wheate and barly" five shillings, and rye and peas 
" fower" shillings. In 1651 the "country rate was payd " 
in Indian corn at 3s.; and also in 1652; and in 1654, if 
brought in after March 10; if before that, to be " ac- 
coumpted" 2s. 8d. The question of shrinkage had evidently 
been discussed. In 1652 orders were issued in regard to 
the mint, every shilling to weigh three-pence, troy weight, 
and lesser pieces proportionately, deducting allowance for 
" coynage ; " Spanish coin to be melted and brought to the 
"allay" of sterling silver, (the just alloy of new sterling 
English money). In November, 1654, it was ordered that 
the loss by shrinkage of corn paid in for taxes should be 
borne by the towns. In May, 1655, complaints being made 
of short measure in dealings with the sailors, measurers of 
corn were appointed for the sea-ports. Two shillings six- 
pence was now allowed on taxes for Indian corn, and also 
in November following, "pajable" loth of March. In Oc- 
tober, 1656, 2S. 4d. was allowed ; in 1657, 2s. 6d., fixed for all 



INDIAN tORX AND ITS CULTTTEE. 



payments;* in 1658, corn scarce and high, and law fixing 
price repealed, as between man and man ; in October of 
1660 to 1666 successively, 3s.; in 1667, 2s. 8d. ; in 1670, 
3s.; in 1674, for the country rate, 3s. was allowed ; in 1675, 
3s. 6d.; in 1676, 3s., and so on till 1685, except in 1681, 
when the fixed price for the country rate was 3s. 6d. 

(/) Prices in other Colonies. — In New Netherlands, the 
country north of, and bordering on, the present New York 
City, the price of maize in 1650 was 10 to 15 stivers per 
skepel (15 to 20 cents per bushel). In Rhode Island 
(1670) it sold for 25 cents per bushel, there being a reign of 
plenty and continued peace. In 1680 the price was 75 cents 
per bushel on the Piscataqua River, the boundary between 
Maine (shortly before made a province of Massachusetts) 
and New Hampshire, which had, in 1679, become a separate 
royal province. 

(y*) Maize in Wm. Fenn^s Colony. — In the early colonial 
records of Pennsylvania it is stated that, at a provincial 
council, held 23d of first month, 1683, at Philadelphia, Wm. 
Penn, Governor, and others present, it was ordered that the 
seal of Kent county should be three ears of Indian corn, 
and that of Sussex county one wheat sheaf. At another 
council, held in the seventh month of same year, sundry 
bills were presented, including as items sundry bushels and 
barrels of Indian corn, as well as pounds of pork and to- 
bacco. 

(Ji) Exports and Imports of Maize in the Colonies, up to their 
Independence, in i776.f — The Colony of South Carolina. ex- 
ported 39,308 bushels of Indian corn in 1748, and 16,428 
in 1754, Philadelphia exported 90,740 bushels in 1752; 



^Unless otherwise concluded by mutual consent. fU. S. P. O., 1853. 

4 



34 IN'LIAN CORN AXD ITS CULTDRE. 

60,206 in 1767, and 259,441 in 1771. North Carolina, iii 
i753» exported 61,580 bushels; Savannah 600 bushels in 
1755, and 13,598 in 1770. Virginia's annual exports of 
same, for several years previous to the revolution, were 600,- 
coo bushels. Total exports of Indian corn in 1770, from this 
country, were 578,349 bushels. Into Piscataqua River 
were imported 6,498 bushels of same in 1765; 4,097 in 
1769; 16,587 in 1770, and 4,096 in 1772. 

In every part of the continent now occupied by the 
United States, the aborigines connected with our earliest 
history seemed to be familiar with the culture and consump- 
tion of Indian corn as food. 



CHAPTER IV. 



DISTRIBUTION OF MAIZE. 



(a) In considering this, maize should be viewed under 
three aspects: 1st. As a bread corn; 2d. As supplying 
other forms of human food ; and 3d. As forage, or food for 
domestic animals. As cereals, wheat and rice had divided 
the empire of the Old World between them, probably, for 
three thousand years, giving way, in certain districts and at 
certain elevations, to rye, barley and oats ; when maize came 
from the New World and made rapid and extensive inroads 
on this empire ; in Europe chiefly, where wheat ceased to. 
be the exclusive bread corn, and widening southward ; in 
Asia, where rice was not too firmly established, say in the 
south-west ; in Africa, along the Mediterranean and Red 
Seas, and at the Cape of Good Hope, and prevailing, side 
by side, with rice in the Torrid Zone. Wheat, moreover, 
made inroads on the maize empire in America, after its dis- 
covery by Columbus, and cassava bread had already estab- 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 35 

lished, in South America, a rival kingdom before that. 
Within the tropics maize will grow at the height of 7,200 
feet above the sea level ; but, according to Prof. Lindley — 
(Lindley's Botany), only predominates between 3,000 and 
6, 000 feet elevation — wheat abounding above the latter height, 
and rye and barley above that, up to 9, 260 feet. Of five grand 
divisions of the earth's surface, as respects the bread plants, 
maize has the greatest range of temperature; rice supports the 
greatest number of human lives ; the three other grand divi- 
sions being the wheat, the rye, and the barley and oats 
region. 

As to the limit of successful maize culture Northward, 
European and American authorities differ. Loudon (1844) 
says that maize was then cultivated in " almost every part of 
the universe," where the summer temperature equals or ex- 
ceeds that common to latitude 45 degrees, or even to 48 de- 
grees, Lorin Blodget, the climatologist, (U. S. P. O. Rt. 53) 
makes " its profitable cultivation as a staple and in competi- 
tion with the best products of the several districts," to be 
" very precisely defined on the north by a mean temperature 
of sixty-eight degrees for July." It appears, from eminent 
European authorities,* that maize, as a bread corn, prevails 
in Portugal, Spain, Southern France, Italy and Greece, the 
Levant, Arabia, East Persia and Northern India, and that it 
is common in Hindostan and Ceylon, China produces 
nearly all the European grains. Southern Russia exports 
maize, which is extensively grown on the shores of the Black 
Sea, It is grown in Moldavia, Wallachia, and Turkey gene- 
rally ; in Albania, Transylvania, Hungary and Austria. It 
has traveled in France since the time of Arthur Young, 
(1787), from latitude 48° 35' (in a line connecting 
Bordeaux and Strasburg) to Nancy, in 49 degrees. The 



"J^oudon, Lindley, Wilson's Rural Cyclopcedia. 



36 IVDTAJf COR.V AND ITS CULTURE. 

maize product in France for 1826 was 17,280,000 bushels; 
in 1841, 33,400,000 bushels. Some of its varieties have 
been shown, by experiment, to grow successfully in the. 
north of France, Belgium, many parts of Germany, and in 
the southern and central parts of England. As a forage 
plant, the celebrated German, Thaer, long ago, recom- 
mended its culture. 

(Jf) Maize in England.— It had been cultivated for upwards 
of a century before Loudon's time, in the neighborhood of 
London, to supply the seedsmen throughout Great Britain 
with ears to ornament their shop windows. It was also 
grown for roasting-ears in the kitchen gardens of some who 
had lived in America. Cobbett, in 1828 and 3829, did 
much to draw attention to its cultivation. The results as to 
field culture Avere not then considered very successful, be- 
cause the heat of tlie months in which it usually ripens was 
of too low a range. These efforts bore fruit in later years ; 
cautious and judicious experimentalists, as far back as 1853, 
had proved that the 7naiz quarantine and viaiz d poidet were 
quite suitable for many districts in the southern and midland 
counties of England, and could be easily acclimated in more 
backward districts, and that other and better varieties could, 
in a similar way, be introduced into Southern England. 
Parts of Wexford, Waterford and Kilkenny were tliought as 
favorable for this culture as South-west England. 

{c) In Africa, &^c. — Morocco and the other Barbary 
States, Egypt and Nubia are enumerated as maize districts, 
and in parts of the South this grain is very productive. It 
is a success in the Canary Islands, It is a specialty in New 
South Wales, and is succeeded in the sam.e season, in 
Mauritius, by a wheat crop. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 37 

(d) In the New World. — In the West Indies maize grows 
very luxuriantly, but is probably not so profitable a crop as 
in the United States. Cuba produces two crops in a year on 
the same ground, and the forage crop is very abundant. It 
is grown in Jamaica in fields by itself, and in fields mixed 
with other plants. On the continent south of the Tropic of 
Capricorn, it is produced in Paraguay and Chili. The Val- 
paraiso variety, (akin to popcorn) is named from one of the 
Chilian seaports. It is also grown in Brazil, Bolivia, French 
Guiana. In Peru it is still extensively cultivated for human 
food, as well as for cattle and swine. Maize is among the 
plants grown abundantly in Guatimala. It is largely culti- 
vated and consumed in Mexico by the descendants of the 
people conquered by Cortez. These people raised it in 
floating fields, on the lake near the capital. Sonora, in 
1864, is spoken of as one of its most barren States, and yet 
there are choice spots, especially along the rivers, where, 
under very simple culture, with very old-fashioned imple- 
ments, the maize and bean fields, without manure, rarely, 
or never fail to produce two crops in the year. In the 
United States domain the existing Indian tribes have, as a 
rule, kept up the maize culture after their several removals. 

In the Indian Territory, so-called, south of Kansas, there 
was raised, in 1868, of this corn, 31,700 bushels, valued at 
$24,000; in 1872, 214,190 bushels, valued at $106,998, (see 
U. S. Agricultural Report, 1870). The ruins of the Pueblo 
villages show that the culture of some varieties had been 
continuous for centuries past. Up to 1870 maize was still 
the staff of life to the Indians of Arizona, California, Ne- 
vada and Utah. Indian corn in British America is not the 
article it is in the United States, but it is much cultivated in i 
Canada, and to some extent in Nova Scotia and New Bruns- 
wick, and also on the Saskatchewan, near Lake Winnepeg. 
Only the smaller and earliest ripening kinds succeed there, 



38 INDIAN CORN A\D ITS CULTURE* 

unless, by acclimation, others have been lately introduced. 
The value of exports from the British American Colonies of 
maize and meal for the year ending 30th June, 1849, were 
stated as §600,000. 



CHAPTER V. 

STATISTICAL HISTORY OF MAIZE IN THE UNITED STATES. 

(a) Probably it is a safe rule that a soil or climate, taken 
on an extensive scale, will produce that which is most needed 
for the sustenance of the inhabitants. For a very high lati- 
tude more of a meat diet is required, to restore the great 
waste of the system resultnig from the amount of movement 
necessary to keep life in the body. Hence in Arctic regions 
population is thin and animal food comparatively abundant. 
For high latitudes, lower than the above, a concentrated and 
richly endowed grain, like wheat, or, still better, some va- 
rieties of oats, may be more suitable. Not only the latitude, 
but the elevation, has much to do with the nature of the 
food plant, as well as its capacity for production. Other 
circumstances modify the effects of latitude and elevation, 
such as the situation with reference to large rivers and 
mountains, and to ocean and lake shores. For the more 
temperate, as well as high tropical regions, the average 
maize is better, because, though not so highly concentrated 
food, it has more elements suited to a life of temperate ac- 
tivity. On the whole, as the inhabitants of a country can 
best judge Avhat productions of their soil best suit them, 
their estimation of any product will probably be shown by 
the extent of its planting, or acreage, the choice of soil, the 
pains taken to make it productive, and the capital invested 
in the manure, implements and labor applied — all expressed 
in the amount produced. The demand for it, shown in its 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 39 

average price, is another witness in its favor, though, for 
several reasons, not as satisfactory, as far as general useful- 
ness is concerned, as the former. 

{b) The acreage of improved land is given by the census 
of the United States since 1840, but not, as a rule, the 
acreage of the several crops. Of these, in recent years, es- 
timates in reference to acreage, product, value, yield per 
acre, and average price, have been annually made by the ' 
Agricultural Department. Previous to its establishment as 
such, about the year 1861, annual reports were issued on 
agricultural subjects, by the U. S. Patent Office, containing 
statistics of a more general character. These commenced 
with a thin volume in 1842, containing a small portion of 
agricultural matter, the rest relating to mechanical inven- 
tions. Some of the States have regular Boards of Agricul- 
ture, and give, in their annual reports, the maize products. 
Ohio has issued such reports for many years. 

{c) It appears, from DeBow's Compendium of the Census 
for 1850, that the maize product for 1840 was 377,531,875 
bushels, and the population being then 17,069,453, would 
give 22 1-9 bushels to each inhabitant of the United States. 
The following table shows, in column No. i, the acres of 
improved land at the several decennial periods, beginning 
with 1850, as returned by the census of the United States: 
No. 2, the product of Indian corn in bushels; No. 3, bush- 
els of same to each acre of improved land ; No. 4, popula- 
tion of United States; No. 5, bushels of same to each 
inhabitant. The figures for Nos. i, 2 and 4, for the census 
years 1850 and i860, are taken from a work issued from the 
Government Printing Office in 1864, on the Agriculture of 
the United States, as shown in the Census of i860, by 
Joseph C. G. Kennedy, Superintendent of same. The 
figures for 1870, of Nos. i, 2 and 4, are from the large work 
containing that year's census : 



40 



INDIAN COKN AND ITS CULTURE. 
VIII. 



YEARS. 


NO I. 


NO. 2. 


NO. 3. 


NO. 4„ 


No. 5. 


1850. 
i860. 
1870. 


113,032,614 
163,110,720 
188921,099 


592,071,104 
838,792,742 
760,944,54V 


5-25 
514 
403 


23,191.876 

31443-321 

38.558,371 


25K 

19 H 



The last census returns would make it appear that the 
ratio of the maize product to the acres of improved land, 
which remained nearly the same in '50 and '60, fell off 
nearly 22 per cent, in '70, and that the number of bushels 
to each inhabitant, which had increased from 22 i 9 in '40 
to 26f in '60, fell off 27 per cent, in '70, and that the maize 
product was diminished 9 per cent, from that of i860. But 
it is well here to consider the effect of the census, as ex- 
plained in the introduction to the agricultural returns of the 
last one. By improved land is meant that which is cleared 
and in use for grazing, grass, or tillage, or which lies fallow. 
Although the census professes to include all crops on the 
farm for the year, whether consumed at home or sold off, it 
claims a high degree of accuracy only as to crops of consid- 
erable importance. It does not appear to include the minor 
products of pop-corn, and varieties grown for roasting or 
boiling green, the sale of which is large in the chief towns 
and cities ; nor the small crops of common corn raised in 
gardens, or fractional acres not considered as farms. Of 
these there is a great number in and about country towns 
not densely populated. The schedule for filling up through 
the officers of the census was found to be inapplicable 
to the State of Texas, some of the Territories, and some 
paits of California and Nebraska. It was formed 
"wholly with reference to the agricultural requirements 
of the older States, where land is divided up into well 
defined farms," and agriculture has become a system. 
It is often stated that the census being nominally for 



IXDIAN' CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 41 

the crops of the decennial year ending June i, represents, 
actually, the preceding year's crop ; but the authority above 
quoted asserts that it is made up " without any determinable 
proportion, indifferently of the production of two years ; " 
in the census of 1870, for instance, being thus made up of 
the products of that year and 1869. In view of all this, 
the whole maize crop for any one year, outside of that 
grown only for fodder, green or dry, would seem to be more 
satisfactorily stated by the estimates of die Agricultural De- 
partment of the United States. The manner of making this 
will be hereinafter described. These foot up, for 1870, 
1,094,255,000 bushels, giving 5 4-5 as the number of bush- 
els to each acre of improved land; and 2^}^ bushels to each 
inhabitant ; showing that the maize product keeps up with 
the population and with the improvement of farms. 

{d) The following table of census returns of maize pro- 
duced in the several States, including Utah and New 
Mexico, and leaving out West Virginia, for the four last 
census years, is made up of figures taken from the three au- 
thorities last above referred to, including the yield per acre, 
ill bushels, returned by the Marshals in 1850, given in De- 
Bow's Compendium. 

These returns, as well as those of the Agricultural De- 
partment given in the succeeding pages, deserve careful 
study. Underneath these dry matters of statistics may be 
found thv, workings of some of the greatest events of our 
Nation's history. Among the earliest of these were the 
wide extension of our territory after the Mexican war ; the 
discovery of gold in California; the rapid settlement of the 
grand prairies, and the more general introduction of labor- 
saving agricultural machinery so well suited to their cultiva- 
tion. Their usefulness was more fully demonstrated during 
the later years of the civil war, when so large a proportion 
of the bone and muscle, as well as the brain, of the country 



42 



IXDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



was withdrawn from the labors of the plow to those of the 
sword. When confidence is fully restored, the census re- 
turns will doubtless be more complete : 



IX. 





1840. 


1850. 1 1S60. 


1S70. 


1850. 


STATES. 










Yiehi 




Bushels. 


Bushels. 


Bushels. 
1,546,071 


Bushels. 


per acre 


Maine . . 


950,528 


I 750,056 


1,089,888 


27 


N. Hampshire 


1.162,572 


I 573,670 


1,414.628 


I 277,768 


30 


Vermont 


1,119 678 


2,032,396 


1,525411 


1,699,882 


32 


Massachusetts 


1,809,192 


2.345.490 


2,157,063 


1,397.807 


31 


Rhode Island 


450,498 


539.201 


461 497 


311,957 




Connecticut 


1 . 500 44 1 


1,935,043 


2,059.835 


1.570364 


40 


New York . 


10972,286 


17,858,400 


20061.049 


16 462,825 


27 


New Jersey . 


4.361.975 


8 759 704 


9723,336 


8,745-384 


33 


Pennsylvania 


14 240022 


19,835,214 


28 196 821 


34,702,006 


20 


Delaware . 


2,099,359 


3 145,542 


3 892,337 


3010390 


20 


Maryland . 


8,233,086 


10,749,858 


13,444,922 


11,701,817 


23 


Dist Columbia 


39485 


65,230 


80,840 


28,020 




Virginia 


34577,591 


35.254319 


38 319 999 


17649304 


18 


N. Carolina . 


23,893763 


27,941.051 


30078564 


1S454215 


17 


S Carolina . 


14,722,805 


16,271454 


15,065,606 


7,614,207 


II 


Georgia . . 


20.905.122 


30 oSo 099 


30,776293 


17,646,459 


16 


Florida . . 


898.974 


1,996809 


2,834391 


2,725050 





Alabama . 


20 947,004 


28 754 048 


33,226.282 


16,977.948 


15 


Mississippi . 


13 161,237 


22446552 


29,057 6S2 


15637.316 


iS 


Louisiana . 


5i952,9i2 


10.266373 


16 853 745 


7,596,62s 


16 


'J'exas . . 




6,02s 876 
8,893,939 


16 500,702 

17823.58S 


20,554,538 
13,382,145 




Arkansas . 


4 846 632 


22 


'I'ennessee , 


44986,188 


52,276,223 


52 089 926 


41,343614 


21 


Kentucky , 


39,847.120 58,672,591 


64 043,633 


50.091,000 


24 


Ohio . . . 


33668,144 


59078,695 


73 543 190 


67,501.144 


36 


Oregon . . 




2,918 


76 122 


72 138 





Michigan . 


2277039 


5,641,420 


12.444676 


1408623S 


32 


Indiana . . 


28,155 887 


52 964.363 


71 588919 


5109453!^ 


33 


Illinois . . 


22,634,211 


57,646 9S4 


115,174,777 


129921395 


33 


Wisconsin . 


379.359 


I 988,979 


7.517300 


15033.99^' 


30 


Minnesota . 




16,725 
8,656,799 


2.941952 
42 410 686 


4743,117 
68935065 




Iowa . . 


1,406 241 


32 


Missouri 


17332,524 


36,214,537 


72892157 


66.034 075 


34 


Kansas , . 






6 150.727 


17025525 


__ 


California . 




12 236 


510 708 
90482 


1.221 222 




Utah . . 




9899 


9555; 





Nebraska . 






1 482 080 


4 736 710 




Nevada . . 






460 


9,660 


II 


New Mexico 




36^.4 IT 


7m ^04 


61082^ 


-_ 



IN'DIAM CORN AND IT3 CULTURE. 42 

The crop of West Virginia, which was cut off from Old 
Virginia, after the completion of the census of i860, was re- 
turned as 8,197,865 bushels; Washington Territory, 4,712 
in i860, and 21,781 in 1870; Dakota 20,269 ^^ i860, and 
133,140 in 1870; Colorado 231,903, Idaho 5,750, Mon- 
tana 320, and Arizona, 32,041 bushels in 1870. The cen- 
sus totals for the four last decennial years are given in table 
VIII , and the statement introducing it (^). 

(e) The New England States seem to have reached their 
highest product of maize in 1850, or shortly before, and 
afterwards fluctuated to much lower figures. This was 
probably due to an increased investment of capital and labor 
in manufactures, or crops on the whole better suited to 
their climate and soil ; and to the competition of cheap West- 
ern corn, reaching their markets by improved lake and canal 
navigation and a widely extended net-work of railroads. 
The Erie Canal, opened in 1825, gave a new impetus to 
inland trade. When the Ohio, Miami, Wabash and Illinois 
Canals were opened, with their respective branches, the 
Ohio and Mississippi Valleys and the shores of the Great 
Lakes were ready for the vast movements Eastward and 
Westward, and the aid and competition of the railroads fol- 
lowed hard after, to make them more effective and rapid. 
In 1863, Governor Andrew, of Massachusetts, in his mes- 
sage, estimated the supplies furnished New England by the 
West, of flour, grain and animal food, for human sustenance 
and forage for cattle, horses and swine, at $50,000,000, $20,- 
000,000 of which went to Massachusetts. 

(/) The civil war occasioned, for a time, a rapid diminu- 
tion of the maize product in the States south and south-west 
of Maryland, except in Florida, Texas and Arkansas. They 
are gradually recovering from its effects, but cotton and su- 
gar culture are gaining on maize in portions of the Gulf 
Suites. The Ohio and Upper Mississippi Valleys have shown 



44 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

a wonderful development of maize culture. Tennessee was 
highest in 1840; Ohio in 1850, with Kentucky following 
close behind. Illinois came to the front in i860, leaving 
Ohio, Missouri and Indiana nearly equal, but far behind. 
Illinois was still first in 1870, Iowa, Ohio and Missouri being 
next by the census, and Indiana, Missouri and Iowa by 
Agricultural Department's estimate. 

(g) Closely connected with the statistics of Indian corn 
are those of swine. The following table, made up from 
the census authorities above named, gives the number of 
swine on farms for the four last decennial years. The fifth 
column, headed i860 (Z'), shows the number of swine which 
the Assistant Marshals of the census of i860 believed to 
have been omitted from their schedules, as not being con- 
nected with the agriculture of this country, but scattered 
through the cities and large towns. — (See Kennedy's Agri- 
culture of that census). 

West Virginia had 268,031 swine in 1870 ; Dakota 287 in 
1S60, and 2,033 i'"^ ^§70; Arizona 720, Colorado 5,509, 
Idaho 2,316, Montana 2,599, and Wyoming 146, respect- 
ively, in 1870. The totals for the States and Territories of 
the above lists of swine, were — for 1840, 26,301,293; for 
1850, 30,354,213; for i860 {a., official), 33,512,867; for 
i860 (/'., additional), 3,467,905 ; for 1870, 25,134,569. The 
estimates of swine in large towns and cities, for i860, as 
above, were made at the express direction of the Superin- 
tendent of that census, and were omitted in the previous 
one, and probably, also, in that of 1870. To obtain the 
fullest returns for i860, they may be very safely added to 
the official returns headed i860 (a), in annexed table. The 
ratio of estimates in the fifth column, to the official returns 
of i860, is largest (17}^ to 11) in the District of Columbia, 
which has in it very little of the rural element. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CtTLTCRE. 
X. 



45 



STATES, ETC. 



Maine . . 
New Hampshire 
Vermont . . 
Massachusetts 
Rhode Island 
Connecticut . 
New York 
New Jersey . 
Pennsylvania . 
Delaware . 
Maryland . 
Dist. Columbia 
Virginia 
North Carolina 
South Carolina 
Georgia 
I'lorida 
Alabama . 
Mississippi 
Louisiana . . 
Texas . 
Arkansas . . 
Tennessee 
Kentucky . . 
Ohio . . . 
Michigan . . 
Indiana . . 
Illinois 

Wisconsin . . 
Minnesota . . 
Iowa . . . 
Missouri . . 
Kansas 
Nebraska . . 
California . . 
Oregon 
New Mexico . 
Utah . . . 
Nevada 
Washington . 



1840. I 
117.386 
121,671 
203 800 
143 221 
30,659 
131,961 
1,900,065 
261,443 

1,503.964 

74 228 

416,943 



1850. 



1992,155 

1,649 716 

878.5 

1,457 755 
92 6S0 

I 423 873 

1,001,209 

323,220 



393.058 
2,926 607 
2310,533 
2,099 746 

295 890 

1,623 608 

1,495.254 

51,383 

104,899 
1,271,161 



4673 



54598 
63,4« 
66,296 
81. 119 

19.509 
76,472 

1,018,252 
250,370 

1^040,366 
56,261 

352911 

',635 
1,829 843 
1,812,813 
1.065.503 
2,168,617 

209,453 
1.904 540 

1,582.734 

597.301 

692,022 

836,727 

3 104 800 

2 891,163 

1.964.770 

205,847 

2,263 776 

1,915907 
159,276 

734 

323 247 

1,702625 



2 776 
30,235 

7,3H 
914 



i860, [a) 



54783 
51935 
52,912 

73,948 

17,478 

75 120 

910 178 

236,0 

1,031,266 

47,848 

387,756, 

1,099 

1. 599.919 
1,883 214 

965,779 

2036,116 

271.742 

1 748321 
1,532768 

634,525 
1.371,532 
1. 171.630 
2,347321 
2.330 595 
2,251,653 

372386 
3 099 1 10 

2 502.308 
334055 
loi 371 
934,820 

2,354,425 
138 224 

25,369 

456396 

81,615 

10313 
6 707 

3 571 
6383 



1870. 



45,760 
33127 

46345 
49,178 
14,607 

51-983 
518 251 
142,563 
867.548 

39818 

257,893 

577 

674670 

1,075 215 
395999 
988,566 
158908 

719757 
814 381 
338326 

1,202,445 
841,129 

1,828,690 

1,8382 

1,728 968 
417 811 

1,872,230 

2,703343 
512778 

148473 
1,353 908 
2 306 430 

206,587 
59 449 

444617 

119,455 
II 267 

3 150 

329s 
17 491 



i860. [A). 



21,196 

17423 

18.526 

43,146 

7,242 

26,031 

100,791 

71.516 

200,236 

7969 

15,113 

I 744 

198 121 

206,976 

375350 
26092 

63,528 
3,175 

50,755 
198,261 

18,919 
108,577 

234,255 

317,116 

573'6 

146 034 

254 380 

70866 

19,718 

130891 

412 36S 

16 500 

1,376 

3 762 

10,728 

7,624 

3625 

656 



The ratio of additional to official list in i860 is 
next (3 to 4), in New Mexico, where the farms are not 
always well defined. Next (2 to 3), in Massachusetts, a 
State of many industries and abounding in cities and large 



46 INDIAN' CORN AND IT3 CULTURE, 

towns. Next, more than i to 2 in Utah's gardens. After 
these, 2 to 5 in Maine, and about i to 3 in the other New 
England States and New Jersey, where a large class of fami- 
lies, devoted to various callings, find the time and the means 
to feed their own pork. The ratio is i to 27 in Alabama. 
It seems probable that^ in the Eastern States generally, what 
there is of swine raising is gradually getting out of the line 
of professional farmers into that of these domestic growers, 
and others who contrive to eke out the subsistence of this 
kind of stock by other methods than corn-feeding ; and with 
good reason ; for it has been asserted by good authority that, 
in New England and the Middle States, pork, up to the win 
ter of '64-5, rarely bore a price at which marketable grain 
could be profitably fed to swine. But it is to be remembered 
that the mere number of swine does not tell the whole story. 
The probable improvement of their quality* in the Eastern 
States since 1840 is, in some degree, indicated by the high 
prices of live hogs as compared with those of the South. 
In proportion to the population for the same year, the list of 
swine was larger in 1840 than it has been in either of the 
subsequent census returns. Tlie result of a comparison of 
these in i860 was that the Pacific States then formed the 
only one, of five or six leading sections of the Union, where 
the number of swine kept pace with the advance of popula- 
tion. But, out of forty- one States and Territories of which 
the official census returned the number of swine in i860, 
thirty returned less in 1870, and eleven more. Of these 
eleven all, except Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin, were 
west of the Mississippi. Iowa shows the largest increase; 
but this did not keep pace with its advance of population — ■ 
Wisconsin's smaller increase did. The newly settled Dako- 
tah increased its population 131 per cent , and its swine 60S 
per cent.; Washington, its population 100 and its swine 174 
per cent. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



47 



In the above table (X.), Tennessee heads the list for 1840, 
with Kentucky next, and gaining on it in 1850, but leaving 
it a little in advance. Indiana is first in i860, with Illinois, 
Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio not far behind. 
Illinois is foremost in 1870; Missouri next. So that the 
great Indian corn region appears, from these returns, to 
abound most in swine. 

XI. 

(/i) Estitnates of maize product, by the Agricultural Division of the 
United States Patent Office, for the following years : 



STATES, &C. 


1842. 
1,188,728 


1843. 


1844. 
I 738 000 


1847. 


1848. 


Maine . 


1,390 799 


2,8gc,ooo 


3 000 000 


N. Ham p. 


220,183 


330925 


1.662 000 


2,280000 


2,600 000 


Vermont . 


?,39i,595 


1,252,853 


I 440 000 


2 100009 


2 500 000 


Mass. . 


2,202,113 


2,347,45' 


2,816000 


3.410,000 


3,800,000 


Rhode I. 


542 S96 


578,720 


636 000 


800 000 


900,000 


Conn. 


1,827,771 


1.926 45S 


2.408 oco 


3 180,000 


3,400 000 


New York 


13 311. 616 


15,574570 


19,468,000 


1 6, coo 000 


17,500000 


New Jersey 


5 000,105 


5 805,121 


6 966 000 


8 000,000 


9,000 000 


Penn. . 


13553360 


15-857,431 


19,029 000 


20,200,000 


2 1 ,000 OCO 


Delaware 


2.381,766 


2 739 982 


3,014,000 


3 620. OgO 


3 850 000 


Maryland 


5 615,640 


6.205,282 


4,653,000 


8 300,000 


fii 800 000 


Virginia 


38,101,657 


45 836 788 


38,960,000 


36,500,000 


38 000 000 


N.Carolina 


25,332,194 


27,916077 


22.330,000 


25,000,000 


26 000 000 


S. Carolina 


16,492,216 


18,190913 


13,640,000 


12,600000 


13 500000 


Georgia . 


24,072 04:3 


26,960 687 


22 200000 


25,000000 


27,000000 


Florida . 


769,420 


838,667 


1,100,000 


1 ,000,000 


1,250,000 


Alabama 


26,345,105 


24,817,089 


22 200,000 


26,000,000 


28,000.000 


Mississippi 


7,693,771 


9,386,399 


2,709,000 


16,000,000 


17,000,000 


Louisiana 


7,857,362 


8,957,392 


7,600,000 


9,000,000 


10,600,000 


Texas 








1,500,000 
7,000,000 


I 800 000 


Arkansas 


7,816,255 


8,754,204 


7,500,000 


8,00c, OCO 


Tennessee 


55,742,384 


67,838,477 


61 100,000 


74,000,000 


76,600,000 


Kentucky 


49,053 849 


59,355,156 


47,500,000 


62,000 000 


65,000.000 


Ohio . 


39,424,221 


38,651,128 


48,000,00c 


66,000,000 


70,000,000 


Michigan 


3,703,589 


3,592,482 


4,300,000 


6,500,000 


10,000,000 


Indiana . 


38,838,275 


36,677,171 


24,500,000 


38,000,000 


45,000 OcO 


Illinois . 


25,546,728 


32,760,434 


19,680,000 


33,000,000; 40,000,000 


Wisconsin 


630,904 


750,775 


560,000 


1,000,000 


1,500,000 


Iowa 


1,788,580 


2,128,416 


1,690,000 


2,900,000 


3,500,000 


Missouri 


25,338,922 


27,148,608 


12,500,000 


25,000,000 


28,000,000 


Dist. Col. 


45,998 


47,837 


44,000 


45,000 


50,0 .0 


California 












Oregon 








525,000 


1,000,000 


Total . 


441,829,246 


494,618,306 


421,953,000 


539,350,000 


588,150,000 



48 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

The above estimates for 1842-3-4 seem to have been made 
up from the reported per centage of increase or decrease of 
the maize crop in the different States. The summing up of 
the reports of correspondents, as to the crops for the re- 
spective years, are found in U. S. P. O. '42, page 17 ; in 
'43, page 52, and in '44, page 67. In 1842 gains were 
stated in about two thirds of the States. Early cold, dry 
weather injured the crop in some parts of New Hampshire, 
and a cold, wet, early summer that of Western New York, 
and also that of Maryland, eastern shore. Here the army 
worm, left alive by a warm winter, made matters worse. A 
wet planting season shortened the crop in Pennsylvania ; 
heavy rains injured it in some parts of Virginia, and drought 
in others. Great floods swept away whole fields on the sea- 
board of North Carolina; wet and cold diminished the crop 
of Ohio ; but the other States made the general crop an im- 
provement. 

The season of 1843 was not so favorable. Early wet 
caused late planting in New Hampshire; there was drought 
in Rhode Island ; Alabama was discounted ten per cent.; 
Ohio suffered from a wet spring and dry summer ; Indiana, 
Illinois and Michigan also, from similar causes; but much 
new land was planted in Illinois, and the other States raised 
the total one-sixth above that of the previous year. In 1844 
wet weather and floods on the Wabash and Upper Missis- 
sippi Valleys so cut down the Western maize crop that the 
total fell off one seventh. The tabular estimates for 1845-6 
have not been found, but the crop of 1845 "^^'^^ pronounced 
a short one * In estimating the same crop for 1847, 22 per 

*It is stated in the Report for 1845 that the estimate of the maize 
crop for that year, for the whole country, was 417.900,000 bushels. 
The crop was an average in Maine; fine in Vermont ; an increase of 
ten per cent, in Pennsylvania; fair in Tennessee. Kentucky, Ohio 
and Illinois ; fell off in New York, from crop of 1844, ten per cent.; 
twenty in Maryland, and thirty in Viri^jiuia. There was drought in 
South Carolina, and a very .small crop in Florida 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE^ 49 

cent, was added to the census returns for 1840, being the 
rate of increase of population during the seven intervening 
years, and also, according to the political economists, of 
their productive power. In 1847, after a cold and backward 
spring, came a most favorable summer, followed by a crop 
thought to be unexampled in previous years. In 1848 there 
was a severe drought, especially along the Atlantic coast, 
which caused great fears for the maize fields ; but, just as 
they were about to wither, came the rains that saved them. 

The census returns for 1850, coming so soon after, supplied 
the Agricultural Reports with tables of maize production for 
a few years, and the annual tabular estimates were discon- 
tinued till 1862; by which time, the Agricultural Department 
of the United States was fairly established. 

In speaking of the maize crop as the natural one for the 
United States, the report of the Statistician for 1862 remarks 
that its money value is double that of hay, three-fold that of 
wheat, and four-fold that of cotton. In the seceding States 
the increase of the maize crop was much below that of the 
ratio of population from 1850 to 1 860, The former increased 
16 4-5 per cent.; the latter 2Sj4- This difference was due 
mainly to the great increase of the cotton product. The 
increase of the maize crop in these States was chiefly in Ar- 
kansas and Texas, which abounded in growers of farm stock. 
The tobacco crop was also widely extended during that inter- 
val in Tennessee and Kentucky. 

Some of the States made annual returns or estimates of 
the maize crop before agriculture became a separate depart- 
ment, for the supervision of the United States Government. 
Indiana reported in 1854, as raised in that State, 34,811,902 
bushels; in 1855, 58,126,259 bushels; in 1856, 39,833,366 
bushels; in 1857, 59,793,657 bushels; in 1858, 37,261,622 
bushels, and in 1859, 54,045,217 — the crop being alter- 
nately small and large. 



50 



INDU.M CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 
XII. 



STATES, ETC. 


1862. 
Bushels. 


1863. 
Bushels. 


1864. 
Bushels 


1605. 
Bushels. 


Maine 


1,855.285 


1,855,285 


1,410,017 


1,692,020 


New Hampshire 


1,668,285 


1,835,113 


1,334,628 


1,468,090 


Vermont 


1,585,020 


1,743-522 


1,585,020 


1,796,356 


Massachusetts . . 


2,465,215 


2,465,215 


2,280,324 


^,363, 245 


Rhode Island 


458,912 


413,021 


474.208 


497,918 


Connecticut . . 


2,059,835 


2,059,835 


2,059,835 


2,265,818 


New York . . 


24^0731^57 


24,073,257 


22,628,862 


25,344,3*5 


New Jersey 


10,023,336 


11,025,669 


8,464,262 


9-73393I 


Pennsylvania 


30,721,821 


30,721,821 


28,381,685 


35,477,106 


Delaware . 


3.892-337 


3,892,337 


3,892,337 


3,892,337 


Maryland . . 


14,444,922 


14,444,922 


10,509,243 


14308,739 


Kentucky . 
Ohio . 




52,836,997 
57,433.802 


42,828,706 
68,202,641 


57,512.833 
94,119,644 


71,792,523 


Michigan 


15,190,137 


10,633,097 


11,088,801 


17-520,305 


Indiana 


92,855,454 


54,602.27; 


74,284,363 


116,069,316 


Illinois . . • 


138.356,135 


83 013.68. 


'38,356,135 


177,095,852 


Wisconsin . . 


10,087,05- 


8,069,64; 


10,087,053 


1 3,449,405 


Minnesota 


3,983,42^ 


2,756 89^ 


4,647,329 


5.577795 


Iowa . . • 


49,340,393 


34,538,27' 


55,261,240 


62,997 813 


Missouri , 


82,483,232 


43,743,29^ 


36,635,011 


52,021,715 


Kansas . 


6,814,601 


8,518,25) 


4,673,081 


6,729.236 








1,366,622 


2,494,084 




478,169 


478,169 
451,153,37^ 




530,451,403 




Total . 


586,704,474 


704,427,853 



States not included in the above went out of the Union 
as Confederate States. In 1866 they were reckoned in 
again, when the estimated maize product in bushels (the 
States, &c., designated by their usual abbreviations) was as 
follows : 



Me., . 


. 1,624,239 


Va., . 


. 24,369,908 


Ky., . 


• 65,564,630 


N. H,, 


. , 1,321 281 


N.C., . 


. 21,656,566 


Ohio, 


• . 99,766,822 


Vt., . 


• 1,490,975 


S. C, . 


. 6,026,242 


Mich., 


. . 16,118,680 


Mass., 


. . 2,363,245 


Ga., . 


. . 15,695,909 


Ind., . 


. 127,676,247 


R. I., 


408,293 


Fla., . 


. 1,984,073 


111., . 


• »55 844,350 


Conn., 


. . 2,220,50* 


Ala., . 


, 21,597,083 


Wis. • 


• 9,414,583 


N. Y., 


. 22,809,893 


Miss'pi., 


. 11,913,650 


Iowa, 


. 52,288,184 


N.J., 


• 9,539,223 


La., . 


, 6,910,035 


Mo., . 


. 46,819,543 


Pa., . 


. 35,831,877 


Texas, . 


. 20,295,863 


Ks., . 


• 6,517.358 


Del., . 


. 4,281,570 


Ark., . 


. ",585-33- 


Neb., 


. . 2,095,030 


Md., , 


. 15,024,176'Tenn., . 


. 46,^80,93., 


l^ot.nl 


. 867,946,295 



INDIAN COEN AND ITS CULTURE. 61 

The method of the Department, in making these and 
other estimates, is explained in U. S. A. R., 1863. Monthly 
in summer and bi-monthly in winter, the Department issued 
circulars to its correspondents (recommended by members of 
Congress and others, and paid for their services only in 
copies of the annual and monthly reports, seeds, &c.) ; their 
number intended to be not exceeding one for an ordinary 
sized county of four hundred square miles, and five assist^ 
ants. It was found that their information was best given as 
a tenth or more of the crop in question, greater or less than 
the preceding one. Their returns, on a day named in the 
circular, were sent to the Department by mail, and as fast as 
received entered on the rolls of each State; when all en- 
tered, added up, and the sum divided by the number of 
counties returned for each crop. This gave the general 
average of each State in tenths and fractions of a tenth. 
From this, the average product of the crop in bushels, or 
pounds, was calculated, chiefly on the basis of the census 
returns of 1840, '50 and '60, and taking into view the gen- 
eral progress of agriculture in each State for a series of 
years, and ascertaining the per cent, of increase "of the 
progress made by each State, in each crop, at different pe- 
riods of this progress; " also examining the special causes 
acting on production, as railways or other improvements in 
transportation, or on prices, as an unusual commercial de- 
mand ; or in the change of products by the growth of manu- 
factures. The duration, extent and intensity of their action 
were considered. At that time the Government supplies were 
taken into account. How far each section of the country 
would be influenced was to be judged of "from personal 
knowledge of the general agricultural condition of the 
country, and of much of its local peculiarities." The 
National and State census were to be compared, "and from 
every source of information " were to be derived the means 



52 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

of correcting the returns of correspondents. It was claimecl 
that, "when once the plan was fairly in operation, the an-. 
nually published estimates of the production of the counties '* 
would be a sufiicient guide for the correspondents, especially 
when made skillful by longer experience. It was also 
claimed thac, in spite of the troubles of the time, the returns 
of correspondents were " far more reliable than most of 
those made by township and county assessors, who collect 
agricultural statistics for the several States;" and that most 
of the statements made of the amounts of crops and of farm 
stock had been tested by time and commercial transactions, 
and " sustained in a most gratifying manner." It is further 
stated, in the 1S62 report, that, as no circulars were sent to 
California, on account of its remoteness, estimates of its 
products were based on its State statistics of crops for 1861 
and their prices in San Francisco ; and, as Ohio had a much 
more perfect system of taking its agricultural statistics, its 
returns had been chiefly relied on, but not entirely. When 
the amount of the crop was determined, the acreage and 
total value were deduced from that by a simple arithmetical 
calculation ; the prices and yield per acre being familiar to 
all farmers, having been obtained through the circulars. The 
report of the statistician in 1864 illustrates the method of 
returns in tenths somewhat more fully, and adds that each 
year's crop would be estimated from such returns, " on the 
basis of the amount of the crop of the preceding year." 

The crop for 1862 was characterized in the report for that 
year as the "best ever grown." That of 1863 was short- 
ened more than one hundred and thirty-five million bushels 
by destructive frosts. The crop of 1864 was much better, 
but that of 1865 gained on this 33 per cent; Illinois siill in 
front; next, successively, Indiana, Ohio and Iowa. That 
of 1866 was abundant, except in some of the Southern 
States — there was more than an average in Texas. 






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54 INDIAN COEN AND ITS CULTURE. 

The acreage of maize is of three kinds — that of new land, 
of land undergoing a rotation, and of land successively in 
this crop. The last is only consistent with good farming in 
the case of very rich and deep soil, or of harvesting by 
hogging down, or of very heavy manuring. The second 
indicates a better system, which, if the rotation is suited to 
the soil and climate, is a very safe one. If the first kind, 
the inquiry follows, whether the newly planted is an addi- 
tion to the body of well improved land, or whether it is after 
the style of the old Virginia tobacco lands, a substitution of 
virgin soil for that which is exhausted. It is very important 
that the truth of the matter should be known as to the na- 
ture of this acreage ; for the exhaustion of the soil of the 
country for the sake of a temporary profit, is really selling 
its birthright for a mess of pottage. The business of every 
farmer is to provide "meat for the hungry," and he has a 
duty to perform for the great future, as well as for the pres- 
ent, in view of the hundred million who are destined to 
occupy the homesteads of the Great Republic. He should 
do his part, in leaving a patrimony, instead of a waste, to those 
who follow him in the possession of the "land of the free." 

As these three kinds of acreage are thrown together in 
the estimates, in order to ascertain how well a farming com- 
munity has performed this duty, it is necessary to consider, 
not only such specialties as the yield per acre, but various 
circumstances connected with the general farming interest. 
As the opening up of the land is of itself a benefit, and the 
beginner on a new plantation very frequently has his land 
to pay for, and is not over-stocked with capital, such tempo- 
rary expedients as "listing," more or less practiced in pio- 
neering, may not work permanent injury, provided the farmer 
takes up better methods as soon as his means will justify 
him in doing so. But in older settlements that kind of 
scratching of tlie soil is not to be thought of. In the States 



INDIAH COEN AND ITS CULTCBB. 65 

where maize culture has attained a permanent standing, 
especially where land is in the possession of actual farmers, 
the yield per acre, for a succession of years, is a good indi- 
cation of its progress. In the New England States, the po- 
litical embarrassments of the country, during the years 
1862-5, inclusive, would naturally make Western freights 
more costly, and it would be, in many cases, for the interest 
of the farmer to put more acres in Indian corn ; and this, 
not only to supply the home demand, but that for exporta- 
tion, which was very large in 1862-3. The yield per acre 
in these States was very good in 1862, averaging 35^ 
bushels. The extraordinary export of 1862 seems to have 
stimulated production in 1863, for the acreage of maize in- 
creased 12 per cent.; and, in spite of the heavy frosts, which 
are said to have shortened the crop for the whole country, 
the average yield per acre in these six States mcreased to 
37 J/2 bushels. There was a like increase of acreage in New- 
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, but the 
average yield per acre therein decreased from 34 to 31 
bushels. The acreage was considerably increased in the 
Western States — except Missouri, where it fell off nearly one- 
third ; but the yield per acre was considerably less in each, 
except in Kansas, where it rose to 43 bushels. But as the 
yield had been above an average in these States in 1862, 
much of it must have found its way into New England in 
1 863 ; and as the average price in the latter was estimated 
at Si ig}4, and in the former about 57c., there would be a 
large margin to pay for transport to the New England mar- 
kets and places of foreign export. This competition seems 
to have brought down Eastern acreage in Indian corn in 
1864 — that of the New England States being reduced 9 per 
cent., and New Jersey and Marylandi7^and 22 per cent, 
respectively ; although Pennsylvania and New York in- 
creased slightly, and Delaware 23 per cent. The Western 



66 INDIAN CORN AND IT9 CULTURE. 

States gained still more in acreage in 1864 — except Missouri, 
which fell off nearly a tenth, and Ohio and Kansas, where 
it was slightly diminished — the yield per acre improving con- 
siderably, except in Michigan, Missouri and Kansas. This 
discussion might be extended indefinitely. 

As to the prices, the effect of the publication of Agricul- 
tural Department estimates is shown in 1863, by the increase 
of 20 cents in the market, resulting from the statement in 
the monthly report for October, that the maize crop for that 
year was lessened 135,000,000 by the distractions of the 
country and the destructiveness of the frosts. A decrease 
in the number and weight of hogs was also shown by the 
report, which was corroborated by subsequent returns from 
the packing-houses — the law ot supply and demand in this 
case giving the farmer his due. 

The most noticeable feature of the war prices of Indian 
corn was their inflation, corresponding, somewhat, with that 
of the gold premium. On the 13th of December, 1861, 
that premium was quoted at less than i per cent.; but in the 
same month the New York banks stopped specie payments. 
On the 2d of January, 1862, the premium on gold was 12c., 
that is, the price in currency of a gold dollar was $1.12. It 
rem.ained nearly the same till June 18, when it rose to 115, 
and on July 2d,* to 119, and on October 23d, to 132. It 
will be seen that the average price for Indian corn for '62 
was estimated in the table at 66 cents for New York State, 
and, in 1S63, at Si per bushel; and on i6th of October, 
'63, gold was 153. That the advance in corn was much 
greater than that in gold, was probably due to the fact that 
the crop was much smaller in '6^ than it was in '62. It was 
fair in '64, and the estimated price of New York, for same 
year, was 3i 68 per bushel. On the 30th of July, '64, the 
price of gold was $2.56 ; having been $2.75 on 9th July. 
'~~*See U. S. A. R., 1863. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



C7 



XIV. 

Estimated Products fif Maize, from U. S. A. Reports, in Bushels, ex- 
fteisai in Thousands (Jhree iait figures, being ciphers, omitted) in the 
JoUovjing years : 



STATES, AC. 


18G7. 


1868. 1 1869. 


1870. 


1871. 


1872. 


1.S73. 


1874. 




Thous 


Thons 


Thons 


Thons 
1,198 


Thovis 


Thons 


Thous 


Thons 


Maine 


l,o75 


1,590 


1,450 


1,078 


1,218 


8.52 


809 


New Hampshire . 


l,4l:^ 


1,511 


1,400 


1,213 


1,273 


1,374 


1,305 


1.2.39 


Vermont . 


1.5J0 


1,672 


1,475 


1,920 


1,747 


1,921 


1.748 


],6i:0 


Massachusetts . 


2,30:J 


2,292 


1,950 


1,327 


1,419 


1,461 


1,446 


1,431 


Khode Ishiad . 


340 


475 


440 


280 


308 


295 


297 


279 


Connecticut 


2,lilJ 


2,152 


1,950 


1,413 


1,624 


1,705 


1.534 


1.087 


New Yorlc , 


19,500 


20,910 


19,100 


19,426 


17,483 


19,231 


17.692 


16.807 


New Jersey . . 


'j,7:'.o 


10,216 


9,200 


10,057 


10.559 


12,142 


10,442 


9.397 


Pennsylvania. 


30.457 


31,979 


29,500 


S8,866 


39,2.54 


43 964 


36,929 


35.821 


Delaware . . 


3,630 


3.275 


3,200 


3,311 


3,575 


3,289 


2.960 


2,841 


Maryhind . 


11,650 


12,349 


12,300 


11,818 


11.227 


11.002 


10,4.51 


10,032 


Virginia 


1S,490 


19,969 


17,500 


19,360 


19,5.53 


18.184 


19,275 


19,082 


North Carolina 


17,974 


23,360 


17,400 


22,.5O0 


20,700 


24,012 


21,130 


22,183 


South Carolina . 


7.834 


9 870 


8,100 


12.000 


9.840 


10.6-J7 


9,245 


10,169 


Georgia 


29.037 


27.294 


27,500 


SI, 000 


20 1.50 


23,777 


24,014 


i!4,49I 


Florida , 


2,500 


2.9.50 


3,100 


2,247 


2,022 


1,920 


2.112 


2,112 


Alabama 


35.500 


31.240 


30,200 


S5,3.!4 


19,080 


22,896 


21,751 


20.228 


Mississippi . 


19,657 


35.519' 30,000 


SO.iJOO 


18,180 


21.816 


18,543 


18.357 


Louisiana 


9,535 


17,397 


16,850 


18,000 


8.100 


10 125 


9,112 


7..S06 


Texas . , 


20.716 


21,337 


23,000 


23,690 


20,847 


. 27.9154 


23,743 


28 016 


Arkansas , 


21.24:; 


32,449 


25.750 


25,000 


16,250 


17.062 


16,208 


9.724 


Tennessee . . 


50.2.50 


04.772 


47,500 


51.000 


45.900 


46,818 


42,604 


81,953 


West Vir,i,'inia . 


6.500 


7,695 


8,100 


9,837 


9.34o 


9,905 


10,004 


8,803 


Keiuueky . 


46,5.50 


.'■)8,1,S7 


51.500 


63,345 


53,843 


63.534 


58,451 


48,514 


Ohio 


64.000 


74.040 


G8,250 


87,751 


S9..506 


99.351 


88,422 


88,422 


Michic;aa 


15,118 


18.815 


14,100 


19,035 


16,179 


16.987 


14,099 


12,tKS9 


Indiana . , 


80.757 


90,8;.i2 


73,000 


113,150 


79,205 


85 541 


67,840 


74,624 


11 mois . , 


109.091 


134,363 


121,500 


201,378 203.391 


217,628 


143,634 


133,579 


Wisf'onsin , 


9.,SS5 


12.565 


9,500 


19,995 


21,394 


21,180 


16.308 


15,492 


Minnesota , 


4..50U 


8.2.55 


5,750 


5,823 


8,152 


7,988 


7,189 


7,543 


Iowa 


53,3:; 1 


.15.332 


78,. 500 


93.415 


99,019 


101 989 


105,200 


115.720 


Missouri 


50.43". 


00,9 .7 


80„500 


94,990 


87.390 


105,741 


70,84r 


46.049 


Kansas , , 


8.159 


C,487 


24..500 


16,685 


24,693 


29,631 


47.000 


16.06.) 


Nebraska 


2,325 


3.185 


6,750 


5.163 


7,228 


7,589 


7.000 


3,, 500 


California , 




1,220 


1,305 


1,099 


934 


1,400 


1,540 


1,617 


Pacific States 


""506 








........ 


Oregon 






'"206 


88 85 


89 


94 




Nevada 








111 12 


lo 


12 


12'^ 


Nevada, Territories 






"'i'sm 


., ' 








Territories . 








1,230 1 353 


"l',380 


"i"242 


"i.'Itio 


Total 


768,320;906,527 


874,320 


1,094.2,55 


991.898 


1,092,719 


9:;2,274 


8.50 14s i 



Beginning with 1866, in a previous table, the totals seem 
to be the highest in the even years, with a tendency upward, 
till 1872. The faUing off in 1874 was doubtless owing, in 
part, to ravages of the grasshoppers that year in some of 
the Trans Mississippi States. The totals for the odd years 
are from 32,000,000 to 160,000,000 bushels smaller than for 
.the even ones immediately preceding. 



53 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTORE. 



XV. 
ESTIMATED ACRES IN CORN IN FOLLOWING YEARS — FULL FIGURES : 




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O OJ n 






.^■A 



a)^fc('';(=:<i-lc-l'SJri-^-^Orti-lr-('-'f^l-1»=i'^<i 



)::3 a> ?: I- 



INDIAN COEN AND 1T9 CULTURE. 

In 1867, only Maine, New Hampshire and twenty 
other States planted fewer acres in corn. The large crop 
provided for was cut down by a spring unfavorable for rapid 
and healthy growth, and by summer drought in the Ohio 
Valley; in many places one-half; Illinois yielding but 23.8 
bushels per acre. The large yield per acre in New England 
is due to careful culture and skillful manuring. Fertilizers 
of various kinds are used liberally there in this crop. The 
wet spring of 1867 kept back seasonable plowing, and farm 
help was scarce ; cold rains were the cause of slow growth. 
In 1868 the acreage increased more than two millions; a 
large part of the advance being in the Southern States. "The 
high temperature of July was favorable to the growth of 
corn, and the prospect was good for a thousand millions 
until August, when unseasonably cool and, in some localities, 
wet weather, set in, followed by early frosts. The result 
was a sudden and injurious check at the critical period of 
earing, resulting in late ripening, smut, and other evidences 
of abnormal conditions." Southern Indiana and Ohio, 
"West Virginia and Pennsylvania suffered from heavy rains, 
and Iowa and North Indiana and Illinois from early frosts. 

In 1869 the area of maize culture was very much extend- 
ed, which the frequent spring showers made it difficult 
planting. Mid-summer was more propitious, but cold nights 
retarded its growth in the Northern States, and a severe 
drought pinched it in the Atlantic States of the South, and, 
though it escaped material injury from late frosts, the crop 
was thought to be one hundred and fifty millions short of a 
good return — which was reckoned at one thousand million 
bushels. 

In 1870 the early conditions of growth were favorable. 
Wet weather in the Carolinas made it difficult to kill the 
weeds. Notwithstanding some injuries from drought, wet 
weather, worms and early frosts, almost every State, by 



CO INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

September, made returns of high condition, and October 
made it clear that the crop would be larger than those of the 
two preceding years, and probably the best for a decade. 
L ripened unusually early; some was injured by drought 
and cut up for fodder, and some, in the valleys of Virginia, 
ruined by floods, and small portions in the South damaged 
by excessive rains ; but the bulk of the crop was remarkably 
sound. 

In 1 87 1 the central corn region of the West had an early 
planting and the growth was rapid, except where the cut- 
worm was rooted in the sod land, or local drought prevailed, 
or cold rains fell on low-lying lands of dense clay, undrained, 
or otherwise unameliorated. Cut-worms were more destruc- 
tive in the Eastern and Middle States than in the West. 
Southern corn had a good start, but soon felt the cold rains. 
Tlie nights in June were " too cool for corn in New England 
and through the Alleghany elevations as far south as Vir- 
ginia." Imperfect cultivation was the result of heavy rains 
in the South. In some places, where the crop was in good 
condition till mid July, a severe drought set in. The crops 
were lighter in the South-west, although the acreage was 
diminished there, except in Tennessee and Texas. In the 
latter State, especially, there was much loss from drought. 

In 1872 the acreage was increased about three per cent. 
The season was not very propitious during May and June, 
and the returns of ist July showed the condition of corn 
planted in 413 counties below average ; in 263 above aver- 
age, and in 313 average. But the showers and sunshine of 
July greatly advanced the crop in all the States, except some 
of those on the Atlantic, south of the Potomac, and a few 
in high latitudes. The growth in August was rapid, and 
the result was one of the largest crops ever grown. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



61 



XVI. 

ESTlMiTES OF MAIZR FOR U. S., BY Ag'i, DEP't, POR THB FOLLOWING YKAPS t 



> C^J O C OC I-^ 



; 01 -.s o CO -r -1 P "M ; 






I; l01(»=troCna>l.-«SOLC.C.0005uOr-il-OOaOTI.l-^^OTS^?5c55TOSxc3Sr-(Sr-,.5oS 







uO X5 ^ 1^ iC CO CO 



-.^00 01 

O) CO -r CO r-l 01 lO ^ ~ '•'^ r^ -/i 

— CJCOO) C-lr-lrti-Gi ifi 



^O-<1^Tj<iO00C0iOtOCC 



00 lO CI 



— :^ ;c) CO 



01 -I- .- M o 



^•••••igOipcOj-; • -. •. . ..CO'Mlr^01U50^-)<Ot~10COOO-3<t^OO '"■lO 
fHr-(r-li-li-lr-(r-l3iOt-l.--05i-(i-lr-lr-lr-(r-lr-ll^02l^l^tOl-~»l>.iCtOCOiO(0-^C003aO -r-l |i2 



X CO -# 01 lO 110 



^™^^'^;'^Cl°.0lt-tiC0'=;rH"'!lDTHu0ClC0roi0t-Ot001C<5roft-I^050i'^. 
rHrlrHrli— i-(Cii-iOC/CCl-l.^i-IO>>-ICO«>l.-~tDtC-*l--'^COl^iO-*iOtOCOuoSiOiH 



CS^OICO'^OOICOI^OIOV ~T uj w.^ wJ ^ 1^ 

'o>co>-Ocav.ocooi.MOO^Or.;.^co^OrH^^^^^„,^^^y^o 






ior^^-<"^oi=£'y3co 

;^;cooort;co-»'(NrHO^f^„„rH.o,ra.ouT./^oi^^^ :OTT(<oi^eO(N 

.-^ll-lrHi-lrHrHr-liHrHaiCCOlt^rHi-lr-d-lr-li-lr-ICnrHl-^ :-^iOCOTt<'*00 



■53 

0) 

ic 


■? 


24 

36 4 

30.1 

32 

24.3 

30 

30 

35 

33.2 

18 

20.5 

20 

16.4 

11 

11.1 

10.0 

12.3 

13 8 

15 6 

19 

12.6 

16.8 

26.5 

25 

36 

27 

27 

18 

28.2 

31 

:9.2 

16 

10.5 

10 

30.2 

30.5 

29 

28 

20T7 


CO 


10 t^ t-^ Tf 01 10 CO -^ >C iCira »iO »0 10 r^ i.O lO r-l O JO ' 
-I^I^r-liCCCOrHOi-OO^r-Clrjl^oiO-tiOOOCOoicsaiiOrHiiOrHOr^O^COailfOr-tOOXjIco 
OlCOCOMCJCOCOCOCOrHOlr-^rH T-lr-lr-li-.r-lrHC-l(MOJ(MCOC001MCOCO(N01COCo5<COCOOI^ 




lO) 01 CI in lO ic '.0 lO lO CO lO lO' lO 01 10 t"; ^ ci cc lo c/5 ^ ; i^ ' 

C0X05r)<OrHt~^C0C»OC0r-(^DO0i0>l--^l-^«i.0.C0"c0»rH05oC0C»»iri0-;t~00t^l0j0C0-0lO 
COCOCOCOCOCOCOCOCOOlCIOlr-lr-lr-l r-lrHr-l0101C)01COCOCOCOCOCOCO«.COCOCOCOCJCOCo|N 


C- 


27.2 

35 7 

.3.16 

34 3 

27.3 

31.4 

33 

36 

35.5 

22 

23.0 

22.6 

14 

10 

10.3 

10.7 

14.5 

14 

14.4 

19 

20 7 

23 

27.0 

27.3 

38.5 

32.4 

35.7 

38.3 

37.7 

37 3 

42 5 

38 

40 

41.5 

38 

20.6 

32 

30 4 

29.1 


g 


33 

30.5 

39.6 

33 

26 

26.4 

34 

33 

35.8 

25 

22.5 

20 

8.9 
13.5 
10.8 
17.5 
10.6 

26.'5 

318 

25 8 

30.4 

32.1 

39 

37 

39,5 

35.2 

38 

33 

32 

31.4 

28 

29.9 

35.6 

29,7 

35 

35,9 

283 


'69 

"24.3 

30 

34 

34.2 

25 2 

31.2 

27.] 

30 8 

31.4 

18 

20.2 

15 5 

14.8 

116 

11 

11.2 

15 

17.5 

25 

29 

28 

20 

27.8 

25 

30.1 

28.9 

28.2 

23.2 

26.4 

29 1 

33 2 

30.6 

48.4 

42.2 

41.4 

35 

28 

"2375 


CCiO uO l^?0COOll-;iO(Xr^ KOCOr- OliOCOOS 0" 

?S oji/otao t^i>Tt* w r^ lOiO r^ c> -^o* o^'o t--'oi\Co ioicci-<}*cOTj<-t< cocoi^ X oi »c : : : lira 

.r|o)cococooicocococooioi-^-JrHrHrHr-'— lOioicooicocococococococococowciTJi : ■ :oJ( 


'67 

35.5 
30 2 
36.7 
25.7 
33 
30.4 
33.1 
32 
10.3 
28.4 
20.9 
11.0 
9.0 
13 1 
11.8 
16.2 
15.7 
15.0 
28.2 
26.5 
23.7 
29 7 
24.7 
287 
31.4 
29.2 
23.8 
33.6 
30 
33.8 
27.2 
38 
36 

29'.'4 
23 


? 


CO 00 OO'^ OiC^C^iO 00 iOtOOOlOGCC-ICO i" 

co'Mco'^t^oot^co-^cooO!Mir6<£>coOi'^i:^cD"^iM : r^ :x) c^ ^ y^ ao :r-HOTjio> : : : :iO 
cococococ^co'M'^c^i-HCOfNiH rH ,^.-ic^c^c^ :cococococooS : cocoMCi ; : ' :|cn 




gii;;^SrtUK5;z;(iHflSt-Sj;.£oK.<;S^^H<^cH;?MoS«M!^S 



62 



INDIA\ CORN AND ITS CULTUHE. 



XVII. 

ESTIMATED VALUB OP MAIZB CROPS IN THE UNITED STATKH, AS BEPORTED BY THE 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, IN DOLLAKS, FOR THE FOLLOWING YEARS : 



\l^ 'y. o :^ c I Cft -H -r — C: -- 
|i-i ■-£ O 1-. -M t~ i_0 I.O 05 1 



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in — o -T< --r* o o -f* o o :^> »c o o X CI -r i'" o o o CI ^— -r 

jCC -.O X O C^ 05 -3* o tT Xi -JD Cl Cl C" 'T CC iO 'C CO — ' — "* — ^ -^ 



50001 
■iOCC Oc 



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— j-H o pH CO c-j CO ^' I- 3; •-' ^' f:: :£ c) lo r-^ o 

— COC^i-H 




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•' r? .«* "3 "n S 0) oH 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 63 

Tables are given in the reports of the U. S. Agricultural 
Department of the average value for each State of an acre 
planted in Indian corn. This does not always express the 
profit of the crop. Nature has already highly manured the 
cheaper, because newly settled acres of the West, and, with 
a sufficient team, and the right implement to turn up the 
sod of the prairie, and other implements to make the culti- 
vation thorough and rapid, the farmer can, in a favorable 
season, realize large crops very cheaply; but these crops are 
ordinarily cheap in his home market. The Eastern farmer 
gets better prices, because he is nearer the great markets, 
and because his home market is greatly improved by di- 
vision of labor ; but his soil and climate are less favorable, 
and his out-lay for manure and labor must be considerable. 
'Jlie interest on the value of his land is greater. The West- 
ern farmer may gain on him by feeding his corn to swine. 
The average value of an acre in corn for four years, ending 
1865, in Vermont, was $48.80; in Iowa, $19.59, giving a 
large margin for shipment East. The yield per acre of Ver- 
mont and Iowa for that year was nearly equal.* Ohio, a 
much older State than Iowa, and very much younger than 
Vermont, with two or three less bushels of yield, has an 
average value per acre in corn, for the same years, of $20.20. 
With regard to the estimates of prices in the different States 
for 1862, it is said, in explanation of the fact, that the prices 
in the States so near the great markets, as Rhode Island and 
New Jersey, are so different, that what Rhode Island is to 
the Boston market in locality. New Jersey is to the New 
York market ; yet there is a much greater difference in their 
market prices than exists in these cities, owing to the differ- 
ence in their industries, Rhode Island being chiefly a manu- 
facturing and New Jersey an agricultural State ; the " one re- 



See U. S. Agricultural Report for 1865. 



G4 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

ceives and the other supplies ; and hence the difference in 
prices should represent the cost of transportation between 
them." The different prices in Ohio and Indiana are also 
referred to, as showing the principles on which the estimates 
are made. Although the market facilities of Indiana are 
nearly equal with those of its neighbor, Ohio, in many re- 
spects, the former was, in 1862, the largest swine producing 
State, and this stock consumed most of its corn ; and so its 
estimated price represented the value of corn fed to hogs. 
But in Ohio large quantities of maize were consumed by 
disuUers and considerable shipped Eastward ; and so the 
price of this crop " exhibits its value when hauled to the 
nearest railroad depot." 

There is some difficulty in appreciating so large a quantity 
as eleven hundred million bushels of corn. Perhaps some 
idea of its vastness may be gained from the following state- 
ments : Suppose a train of carts, each drawn by one yoke of 
oxen, and containing just twenty-five bushels of Indian corn 
in the ear, to be ranged in a continuous straight line, twenty- 
eight and one half feet apart. There will be about one 
hundred and eighty-five carts to the mile, and it would re- 
quire more than two hundred and thirty-seven thousand 
miles of such a train to carry the maize crop of 1872, which 
was very near the quantity above referred to. The distance 
from the earth to the moon is reckoned to be two hundred 
and thirty seven thousand miles. Again, the largest pyramid 
in Egypt, Cheops, was stated, by Diodorus, as six hundred 
feet in height and six hundred feet square at the base. This 
would give two hundred and sixteen millions of solid feet as 
the contents of the cube containing the pyramid — the latter 
being one-third of the former, or seventy-two millions of 
cubic feet. Now, a legal bushel is about two thousand, one 
hundred and fifty cubic inches, or nearly ij^ cubic feet. 
Doubling this for a bushel in the ear, and dividing the cubic 



INBIA.V CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 65 

feet of the pyramid by 2.4884 will give a pyramid of 
maize as large as the Cheops, containing between twenty- 
eight and twenty-nine million bushels. It would take 
thirty-eight such pyramids to represent the heap of Indian 
corn piled up by the farmers of this Union as the crop of 
1872. Again, our national debt, in July, 1873, was 
staled as two thousand two hundred and thirty four million, 
four hundred and eighty two thousand, nine hundred and 
ninety-three dollars. The estimated value of the same crop for 
1874 was five hundred and fifty million, forty-three thousand 
and eighty dollars. If four successive years produced crops 
of the same value, the amount would nearly pay off that 
debt. 

The crop of Illinois, in 1862, was nearly one-fourth of 
the whole amount estimated that year ; more than eighteen 
per cent of the total of 1863; nearly one fourth that of 
1864 and 1865, respectively; and when, in 1867, all the 
States were included in the estimate, it was about one- 
seventh of the whole. Since then it has formed, in succes- 
sive years, more than one-eighth; two elevenths ; one-fifth; 
nearly one filth ; two-thirteenths; and nearly one-sixth in 
1874. The second State for production since 1866 has 
been Indiana, in 1867-8; Missouri, in 1869; Indiana, in 
1870; Iowa, in 1871; Missouri, in 1872; Iowa, in 1873, 
and in 1874. 

It was to be expected that, as early as i860, Illinois, with 
equal facilities fir lake and river navigation, and nearly as 
much invested in farm implements, nearly three-fourths as 
tnany miles of working railroads, and about the same pro- 
portion of population, and of inhabitants of cities and large 
towns, with thirty-eight per cent, more territory, and a much 
larger area of rich, tillable land, more easily brought into 
cultivation, and more swine to feed, and a better chance for 
export, should so f.xr surpass Ohio in the maize product ; 
G 



G6 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CCLTCRE. 

which it did in that year by sixty three per cent. It also 
has a much larger range of latitude specially suited to this 
culture. In 1870 its population was only eighty-four thou- 
sand behind, and it probably surpassed the senior State in 
that of large cities and towns ; had nearly fifty per cent, 
more railroad facilities, and more than sixty per cent, more 
swine of nearly equal average value, and had opened up a 
large area of new land ; it then more than doubled its per 
centage of corn product over Ohio. But in 1874 its esti- 
mated crop was very much diminished, being only fifty-one 
per cent, more than that of the "Buckeye State." Mis- 
souri, having more square miles than Illinois, and similar 
natural advantages, may come to rival this mammoth 
maize State. 

As to the acreage of maize, Illinois stood at the front from 
1S62 to 1874, inclusive; Indiana next, in 1862, '4, '5, '6, 
'7, '9; Alabama, in 1868; Missouri, in 1870-2, and Iowa, 
in 187 1-3 and 4. With respect to the estimated value of the 
crops, it was highest for the whole Union in 1869. Illinois 
was first throughout, from 1862 to 1874, inclusive ; Ohio 
next, in 1862-3 and 1871-3 and 4; Indiana second from 
1864 to 1870, inclusive; Missouri in 1872. 

As to the prices, the extremes of the Union show to the 
greatest advantage — California, in 1862, being highest, and 
Maine next. In '63-4 New Hampshire stood highest; in 
'65, Rhode Island and Connecticut being equal; in '66, 
South Carolina; in '67-8, Rhode Island; in '69 and '70, 
Florida; in '71-2 and 3, Nevada; in '74, Nevada highest, 
and Rhode Island next. As to yield per acre, Minnesota' 
was highest in '62; Rhode Island in '6^; Vermont in '64 ; 
Nebraska in '65 ; New Jersey in '66 ; Kansas in '67-9 ; Cali- 
fornia in '68; Vermont and Indiana in '70; Iowa in '71; 
Illinois and Iowa in '72 being equal ; California in '73, with 
Kansas next; New Hampshire in '74, with California next. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 67 

Allusion has been made to the grasshoppers and their rava- 
ges, in the last years included in the above tables. The 
crop of Missouri was reduced one-third in 1873, and more 
than that in 1874; although the acreage was not diminished 
in both years. The yield per acre was reduced from 
thirty-seven in '72 to 16 in '74, while the price advanced, in 
the same interval, from thirty-two to seventy-four cents. In 
Kansas the crop fell off two-thirds, and in Nebraska one- 
half in *74, while the acreage was increased; the yield per 
acre in '74 being about one-fourth in Kansas and two-sev- 
enths in Nebraska of that in '73. On the other hand, the 
prices in these States rose from thirty-one and twenty -eight 
to ninety-one and seventy-three cents in 1874. 

Various other statistical tables are given in the U. S. A. 
Reports, connected, in some way, with maize culture, some 
of which may be easily calculated by a good arithmetician 
from the foregoing tables. For instance, the number of 
swine in one hundred inhabitants, in the census years i860 
and 1870 ; the bushels of corn to each one hundred inhabit- 
ants in the same years, and in 1850. The average size of 
farms, in acres, has been approximately ascertained in the 
several States for the same years, and show that at the South, 
where they have been largest (except in the Pacific States), 
the yield per acre has been much smaller. Of smaller 
averages of farms in 1870 were in Connecticut (ninety-three 
acres), Rhode Island (ninety-four), and Maine and New 
Jersey (ninety eight acres). 

The yield per acre in these States, respectively, for the 
three years ending 1874 (averaged), was 30,4, 27^, 27^^ and 
37. In Georgia, where the average farm for 1870 was larger 
than in any other Southern State, the average yieUl of maize 
for those three years was not quite 12. The large farms of 
California show a different result ; but there is very little 
maize cultivated there. In 1S70 there was a very marked 



C8 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



decrease in the average size of farms from that of i860 in 
all the Southern States. In Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama 
and Florida there had been a marked increase of their size 
in i860 over 1850, and also in Missouri. That of California 
decreased very much from '50 to '60, but increased slightly 
in '70. With these exceptions, there has been a decrease in 
their size at each decade since 1850, in all the Middle, 
Southern and Western States. One or two of the new 
Territories show an increase. 

The census returns of values of farm implements and ma- 
chinery for 1870 are highest in the following States, in the 
order in which they stand: New York, Pennsylvania, Illi- 
nois, Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin and Michi- 
gan—in other States being under $10,000,000. 

The average yield per acre of maize for these nine States, 
for the three years ending 1874, was about 31^2 bushels. 



XVIII. 



ESTIMATED NUMBER OF SWINE IN THE UNITED STATES, FOR '64, 
AND WITH THEIR PRICE AND VALUE, FROM U. S. A R. in '65-6. 





.1-1 • '61 


January, 1865. 


Kcbrnary, 1866. 








Price. 1 Value. 




Av. 


Value. 


STATES, AC. 


No. 


No. 


Und 


Ov'rl 


No. 












1 yr. 


1 yr.' Dollars. 




pr'p. 
24.64 


Dollars. 


Mill lie 


46,610 


38,221114.21 


23.40, 630,9;',I 


35,3.55 


771,406 


^e\v Ilarap. . 


42.5Jvl 


32.7%; 15.50 


30.00' 627,101 


31 ,333 


2100 


660,198 


Verinunt . 


3«,421 


32, 445! 15. 00 


28.33| 594.795 


32,9(),S 


20.43 


672,405 


]\'i:iss:K-husetts 


6;^, lido 


eo 61i;i4.85 


31.43! y'U.aco 


45,549 


22.61 


1,029,858 


Kliode Island 


14,512 


12.09414.00 


26.66: 207,600 


11,690 


21.41 


260,335 


Connecticut 


67,ll.'2 


52 356114.00 


27 50 909,6f>5 


,52 356 


20,12 1.053,664 


New York . 


823. 5US 


699 983^11.90 


20.82 9,890,762 


671 U8i 


14.33 9,632,S90 


New Jersey 


'21 U 759 


183.4.5912.58 


23r00 2,7«5,82S 


192.630 


15.64 3,014,653 


I'l'iiiisylvania 


y/5,150 


829,728 


9 2r20.81 10,048.006 


8y2o;>2 


11.94 


10,658,2;)9 


Delaware . 


40,24,s 


32,199 


10.50 27.50 474,8.54 


32,09:- 


9.37 


300 915 


Maryland 


3Sl,7H,s 


328,927 


7.5017.66 3,302,429 


368,396 


9.17 


3.380.033 


Kentucky . 


1,"J22,74U 


1,602,2,84 


5.34 


11,52' 11 ,031, 72.^1 


1,794. 5.56 


7.37 


13,234,8.50 


Ohio 


2,:i20,664 


1,779,176 


6.94 


16.24, 16,484. 06'i 


1,.>^38,4S1 


9 62 


17,695,377 


Jliciiisan . 


;;'j'.t,i;-i2 


339,696 


5 2') 


13 23 2 463.64.=. 


.351 017 


8.66 


3,139,815 


Indiana 


2,6G5,UUli 


2.025,474 


5.44 


12.031 14,355,544 


2 261, 7S0 


6.8;j 


15.4,55 393 


li uiois 


2,421.703 


2,034,231 


6.85 


14.18! 17,662,212 


1. 976. 20-- 


X.73 


17.257,236 


Wisconsin 


400.749 


340,6.3.s 


6 00 


13.65 2695,294 


357.6(i8 


9 25 


3.30,s,429 


V> iiinesota . 


114,7 8 


109,016 


6.23 


15.00 918. 1S7 


127.701 


9.71 


] ,2(.5 o;n 


Iowa 


1,581,741 


1,423 567 


56s 


12.00 10,335,09^ 


l,423,56.s 


7.71 


10 982 827 


M issouri . 


1,412,653 


98,s,S57 


3,40 


8.61 4,650,098 


988,857 


5 8,s 


5,816,9.50 


Kansas. . 


160,386 


102,246 


3.63 


10 16 538.036 


95,429 


8.42 


803 749 


Noljraska . 


3t,620 


32.8.S9 


.5.18 


1220 228,063 


35,280 
13.616.876 


8.20 
8.86 


2.s8,Sr.5 


Tiiial ^<- . 


III, 148 712 


13 070.887 


5.08 


111.796.318 


120 673,1.53 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 
XIX. 



69 



ESTIMATED NUMBER OF SWINE IN THE STATES, WITH AVERAGE 
PRICE AND VALUE, FROM U, S. AG'l REPORTS. 



OiCi-'CCi-^accioc^i-^r-' 



■«T Xj O i^ ;_^ t_j :^ Ti ';^ !7--i c;:? •— I cx", 1"^ i^ irrjc ■: 
T--.X'COrfitCl^«3iCC^iCQCu:3'rfTT"iOOC^10lTj'COCOl-^OCiOCOtDiOOCCi--iCOi-»- 

x' X i-o CI 'x' x'rJ X '^ ci o 1-H lO -q< oi--- ai X 1-3 o ; ' 

irt« ^ ^ Qf- .^^ (-ft — 1 /■,-, ^n -*i , — 1 .(-■ -w __i -- /*.! '^ 1-^ '"■I or-, ' 



■ p O O C-i O (TJ O --I X 1 



r o 1-- -r X 



CN a> o o o o - 



<^ 



I'xxr-iX'raioi-Hio-^oi-^aiXi-iocit^Xf-'i-CiOiooco'Mccc^iocrix 
^-raii-HCocc-roi^'i-irHi— •'Nioi'^C'iGcc^c^ixiCTr^cOr-ioxrHxc^-r.— i-j:: 

li T-i L"^ X l^ CO X OI^X* rHCCi-*^'X'i-li:N':OrH'MaaX-^C4rri-Hr-( l-^Ol tP CC 



) Ira o I 

l-COC^' 



^ CO o i^TrR"x^^H'3r?i3"ci~3" 



T-iCCOi^Ci-tCJi— l-TC^OOiOrfCOCOi-Ht-XCO 

ic T3* uo GC i>^ o :c t-^ t->^ CC CO CC o iC I 



•iaiT*'i-H'NTt<»^c^cooiiC-^CicooiC'x;i>-'*f 

O lOl lO CO CO t-- l^ O Oi >-t -M -^ CO CO O I ' '"-^ '^ 

<; *"^ico X -1^ lo 'I- --d oi 1- o ^ 00 "^ "^ Tji c 

OJ OJ 'J' O C-1 u^"C' 

Ci O Ci >-- 04 i" 'T :^ J, :;j J. ^,j i^ -.^ ai 1— « a^ i-r; T^ -^ n 



"A 



' o ix; o X CO uo CO i.t CO X X i~- 1-^ I 
^ — , -^ ^ ,_ .„ ^ . -^ .^ -^ ^ ^ ^ J 

xo 



: o X o o io oi ; 



CO -ri ?5 1— lO X Ci 01 i/T' '-0 '^ Ci t 

o4^C0 OC^ ■jS^'-^O^COCD X;0 ox -T XO TJ^CO O^CO O '-'O tC ----^.-«Oil-^X)OiX 

.1 1^ ■>:^:r;o i-^o o cri c-Jr-TicTcc o oJco i-^ct o -r x'lC oo o i— ' -^t^ «d o x oj t-^ 

OC--J!NCO TTr— C*i-''<J"C't01iCO'-0OOOl-^'-*Ol-^l-*cCOO0SOC0<0'^'*C0 



C: r- I - '-^ -T '^ "" ' - '— ' C3 X .— ( c: Cfi l^ Tp I"^ O iC X irr. 1 
I.": I - :? -r ?4 CD o — ' "^ Oi CO o I- 01 oi CO o .c o -1* I— I ; 






:^. ^ ^ ^ ^. . - -J- . - w ... ^^ irr. r- c-1 ;c liO CO OJ Oi CO 

Oi CO O I- OJ Oi CO O .C O -*• T-^ O " -^ O »-t O --C O 
CO CO OJ^ l-^ i-- CO if:i T -M O O O CO Ci C^4 f-l » CC X o 
C^C"^ oiai-Kl- l^'.'S i~ ^'-^ ^ X r-i r-^cO^Ooi t^Oi'X!uCL.o''»*''7''-f:OOCO-^CO-^Cr 

X r* u':; i.':^ o 01 1- o o -T o CO *D -n lO X Qc rfi c^j CO I- o r-t i^ i^ o -ri o oi o o o »c lO 

C0C0C0iQrHOOr-C0C0C^iOC0 0DC0C0'^O'<tC0.— lOXCOCOCOt-OlOaiOi^GCCO 



CDC^ad W"*CO O C^(M 



3 r-t I^ l^ C^ '-O ^ C- 1 i^C* CZ> IQ »0 I 

^XCOCOCOt-OlOaiOi^GCC 



"jDCOXOO'-T—OOXOOC^iOOCOaOUO^C^COOOr-il 



'-H|^tH[if:;O^OOOiOCOrCQ'N^LOC^iCt-f:OCOi(Oif:)QOT-(I>-r-tCOO^'^COaiXr-'as>-iO 
« *; pi O C^ 1-- O O Ir^ I> 1-- O Ol O O O l^ ^ X Oi I-^ ^O T-H t-^ X CO Oi 0-1 X CO lT: O O I l-^ Ol 1-1 

^. • !►-, "^'l r. o t--^ oi o o '^' *-D oi o4 o r^ '^* t^ t^ i-^ 1--^ ':c CO CO t^ o -^ to X ci --0 1--^ oi 



■ Ol O CO Oi uO o o 



-T ^-^ -- -— . ■ J _■ X O i-H l^ -M O 1(0 01 f-f iC O CO r^ l^ C^l l^ C- .-( — M Oi -^ lO O) CO -rf C-J X 
'^1 O^ CI O l^ Oi t-H 'Xi I— > O X O X OS »0 OO X) T-» O TT ^ X O "^^ Oi -^ '^ CO lO 00 lO lO tC 05 
1-* V"' I— I -^J in i-H 71 CJ O CO ;0 -n* O tC O !>• CO -^ I> lO Tj* O? O iO Ci CO CO 1-^ »C I."- X 1— I CO (i5 



SXt-«COi— •Oi'^O^OOl-n*'— •'COM'OiOXCOOJi— liCOCOCiXi— (i— 'CCXXi— tO' 
i04cOTlii--liCXOuO^COl-'l'0005UOCOCOO:^r;;-OCOCO'— 'XXl^iC'^O'^i 
•'-^'••^^ tC^O COOiOiOJ-^ COiOi-1 ^'O "^CO 1-; »-< ^t uO --h CO i-h I- 1-- rH 

rH rH ^ ^ rH oT CS| C^ i-TrH 



^ . - , .. _ , ,^ -f QdlO O ^ r-i OJ M CO Ol O^ I 

-i--coxo-rO'^r-ci5ii^^xoiX'-''-*i^cit--w 

-, X!ioc>04xcoi^'-co-)^i/r— 'T-<aic-*»ccs'-;"^ co^-rp 
* X ciod oiioOr-i^i;o coo4»-icocrio 



■ -^ X O I-- Oi I 



TO -f O to 
CJ 7 1 CO X 
-r r-1^ —_ CO 
X' L'f r-i 






cS 




5Wi^iJi;><-jw^^_= 



05 13 5> 



O "^ AH \ 



■3 ^ G M o d && =!- !i £f j; a o g-^a m 3 «^ a S?,-s ^^-o-^.a == ^ ^ S-^k 
^ i> a)^J3 o <^ o -i a>ie-H o ^ a^ ° "s o (U <- (B^.^^-Cg g — S^S oSk> ^ = r 



70 



INDIAN CORN AXD ITS CVLTURE. 

XX. 



NUMBER OF SWINE IN THE UNITED STATES, WITH THEIR AVER- 
AGE PRICES AND VALUE, FROM THE U. S. AG'L DEP't. 





> 


ic c-i to in uo CO o eg CO o y .= o o X -^ o = o o ;-: -.c .c X -.; CO 1- o c^ o o o o t£ g «; o o 


2? 

X 


c4 


614 
506 
583 
953 
194 
7.57 
980 
657 
336 
230 
311 
901 
625 
120 
075 
480 
590 
167 
298 
421 
958 
248 
210 
059 
324 
488 
275 
912 
874 
056 
116 

099 

588 
225 
600 
SO 
635 


i 


X 


•*f TJirtt' iHOUr-im COCOi-lCOCOlOTHt~rt(MC-4 0Nl,-ll~X!M (N 


3 



05 X c-i lO 05 CO .-f o 1^ o ^ X o g ji OT o in .-< 05 ;>} oj lO ;* ; 



- CO 3 T-H C2 ..O iC »-^ 01 i-O 05 O 1 



SJ S K X Tf< O CO O ^O O rH O O CO CO O cS -:f O -.O X CO O CO O) -O O^ 1"=; 1" ^ I- 04 uC I- O l-_ O r-H ! 

oi,-ioii--'0.-4t-^oJ«3ib<ncccocococ4coccTro^OTC>jcocoiO'3''^.^-^iri'«'coib,b^ 



oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 
oooooooooocooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 
S -^l CO S ira Jh m o » o_o in ^ -r oi '3<_^o o^o o co x_i-^i^o en c> tt en o_o o_o cc o -r" co co 

r-rcOi-tOx'in'cOrH oi--C. COO''inOX"inr-i x''x'''M'o'o''r-rco"co''M01x'T-<Co"o'o'.-^o"o X'JiCi 

3 -yi S X i-i o r^ i^ o ^ m rH l:r ?2 'y * S£ !^ S iM 25 ^ 25 ^ '^ ^ '^ <2 ^2 S °? ^ X '^ ' " 



cOrHO c4XXcoini— iaiCi04 0io in^co ,— ( rH in -r in c 

r4 rli-HT-T C4 04 NCO' 



> 05 CO X o -f o 
) uc in CO i-H 4< 1-1 



CO oi 



i 


6 
>• 


8667,212 

839,216 

1,133.900 

1,318.640 

298.248 

1.299.375 

7,306,092 

2.410,200 

11,230,272 

2.87,500 

2,011.392 

4.'242,000 

3,492,225 

1,4.87.668 

6,630 096 

495 000 

3,870.000 

8,740,000 

1.290 000 

3,312,000 

2,8:52,608 

6 824,.800 

1,531,200 

9,591,621 

16.040.;570 

3,813 238 

14,187.960 

25,289760 

5,1()9..567 

1,169970 

22.1<;5 000 

9. .548,000 

2,706.621 

653,79' 

2,7'26.460 

375.2).'i 

32. '207 

582 890 

182,602,352 




Price 

9 87 

17.78 

17.00 

15.55 

14.62 

18.75 

11.09 

1.5.45 

10.72 

6.25 

7.76 

5.60 

4.15 

4.69 

4.64 

2.75 

AM 

4.40 

276 

4.49 

4.80 
4.81 
7.89 
7.37 
6.04 
7.. 52 
7.93 
6.61 
7.15 
4.:i4 
8. .88 
8. .58 
5.94 
2.. 51 
7.49 
7.57 


1 


■^ 


§Si2x?«xooo°ininoicnooS = = - = H_,-' 3 -r o =^r.0 3 5 7^oi3i.ocoo o 
i~i^"cD -f o'o>'x''.c'i^!DOii^^'i^cc d ^ - - - -.-. ~ ~ — -.-. \ ~ -. : *— 1- c 3 — c 5 ori-t i~ r-f 

-■°^^*^--°§S.3-^Sl2SSa2a':22?,'7.,:o;ss.BEH'^'3-^r4c=S'-^;5 ^^,i? 

rt r^ ,-4 r4 ,-i oT oioo' co'oi 'o 




o o-i oi lO ^ lO cC' r- 1-H oi o oi X' to —' oi o 01 -f r- oi f- o — o cr- •-' uc Oi o i^ oi lo lO' i-~ o 'O 

'^ l^ O CO O to C>:' O O ^ X' -r:^ l-- 04 'X' i-H -r O O O CO 00 OI C^ '^ I— ' a> i-» CO CO o 1-- o O "^ o uO 

'vs* X ci; oi i-O i--^ oj yf oi ^ cc ic Tj' '^ CO CO ur:J lO CO* o4 u:d Tj^ lO irf <^ 



OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO'OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOwOO 
OOOOO'OOOOOOOOO'OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO'OO 
O i^O^ O O i-O- Ci O O i-O CI O "^.O O ^Lt lO O OI O -^O^O O O O O O O CO p o o o o o o 

*o CO ic -^':o coo^-^'o lO r^ irr o of ijOic 1-- rH o o'o iC O o o 

, . . _j i.T O CO O 1—t "^ l~- O CO O i-O i.O O '-C 01 ■:!: OI CO <~^ ■ — - • 

COOaOOOQCOrHl-^tOr-tOOOiOCOClI-TfOO'Ttt.-ii 



t o i^ o c^ ci T-- Tj^ CO o ir: o CO o r-t ^ i^ o 00 o i^ o o <c cj ^ oi CO o o ^ 04 17^ 



; iC T-1 i^ f-l rH 



y-t rH r-H ,-H C-J /- 



ce c3 



;^ 2S^ a>>^ 



o oa;':::.S : 



.^ ce.; 



.2^'-' 03 tag's cs "i2>o 
5 -c .^3 5,'H ~ .s 'S 5S 2 S "^ 

^ 0) S^.a o a^ i> S i'.^.^ o S Sj: -=;•-; o oj >- S-''' '^.■^■^'^ — 'r'S ~-" =? i»'3 , 



Pi ' '^'^ 

oj cS ,„ "S P 



„.M a 






INDIAN CORN AND ITis CUI.TURE. 71 

XXI, (a) 

ESTIMATES FOR JANUARY, 1876, FROM U. S. AG'l DEP'T. 



STATES, ETC. 


Number. 


-^v. Piice 
$11 66 


Vain p. 


Maine .... 


58,800 


$685 608 


New Hampshire 


37300 


16 20 


604 260 


Vermont .... 


51 800 


12 19 


631 4,12 


Massachusetts 


75 600 


18 03 


1,363 068 


Rhode Island 


16.300 


17 05 


277915 


Connectic.it .... 


57,900 


16 73 


968 667 


New Yoric .... 


568,700 


II 39 


6 477-493 


New Jersey .... 


153 occ 


13 83 


2 115,990 


.Pennsylvania 


875 000 


II 50 


10,062,500 


' Delaware .... 


46 700 


10 61 


4954S7 


Maryland .... 


233.5"o 


7 IC 


1,657 850 


Virginia ..... 


589,800 


4 45 


2 624 610 


North Carolina 


758 300 


4 Oi 


3 040 783 


South Carolina 


275900 


4 II 


1,133949 


Georgia .... 


1,360,700 


3 91 


5-320,337 


Florida 


175.400 


2 26 


396,404 


Alabama . . , . ' 


755.900 


3 99 


3,016,041 


Mississippi .... 


792,900 


4 31 


3 4' 7,399 


Louisiana .... 


222 600 


3 98 


885,948 


Texas ..... 


1,090.000 


4 09 


4,458 100 


Arkansas .... 


901 200 


3 91 


3 523 692 


Tennessee .... 


1,026,400 


5 22 


5357808 


West Virginia 


248,400 


5 38 


I 336392 


Kentucky ... . . 


. 1,604,300 


5 51 


8,839,693 


Ohio 


1,596,100 


8 06 


12 864 566 


Michigan .... 


459,700 


7 93 


3,645421 


Indiana .... 


2,136,000 


7 70 


16,447 200 


Illinois ..... 


2,640,100 


8 63 


22,784 063 


Wisconsin .... 


540,700 


7 58 


4 09S 506 


Minnesota .... 


213,400 


6 99 


1.49 1 666 


Iowa ..... 


3 296,200 


8 08 


20. 6,^3.296 


Missouri .... 


1,874,300 


5 94 


11,133342 


Kansas .... 


246 500 


8 91 


2 196 315 


Nebraska .... 


80,900 


7 58 


613,222 


California .... 


3^3 300 


7 17 


2 604 86 1 


Oregon ..... 


181 500 


4 41 


800 4 1 5 


Nevada .... 


5.200 


9 00 


46 800 


Territories .... 


1 1 6 500 


8 75 


I 019 375 


Total .... 


25 72b 8o( 


175070484 


Grand average of prices 


6 80 







72 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 
XXI. (i) 



(y) STATISTICS OF OHIO, FROM REPORTS OF STATE BOARD 
OF AGRICULTURE, &C, 



INDIAN CORN. 



Counties. 


Acres 


Bushels 


Acres 


Bushels 


Avy'ld 


per acre 


planted. 


produced 


planted. 

18 


produced 
72. 


'47-\5fi. 






18G2. 


1872. 


Ailaius 


28.287 


477,225 


33.330 


669 auy 


35 


26.68 


Allen . 






21,9:^3 


761,017 


29.774 


1,1.53.393 


33 


38.74 


Ashland 






190rr)M 


507,328 


21,366 


911,069 


52 


44.04 


Ashtabula 






11.048 


292 271 


12,280 


579.. 835 


39,4 


47.30 


Athens 






18.038 


610,160 


19,968 


670,379 


39 


33.57 


Auglaize 






23,?.00 


510,111 


28,865 


1,122.519 




38.88 


Belmont . 






2.->,9i\9 


786,481 


26.917 


],18S,142 


45'^ 


44 09 


Brown 






38,1^>0 


930 469 


42,57r^ 


1,408.680 


38.llj 


33 08 


Butler 






58.353 


2,21.5,510 


57 690 


2,738.309 


47^2 


47.46 


Carroll , 






10,880 


251 868 


12,. 572 


517.912 


36!ij 


41.19 


Champaign 






35.779 


1.369,222 


41.863 


1.. 599 281 


36H 


38.20 


Clark . 






30 53034 


1,088.186 


39 965 


1,794,483 


37^4 


44.90 


Clermont 






38 f,17 


901 77:'. 


38,308 


1,460.138 


UVs 


33 11 


Clinton 






47.190 


1.729.244 


57,677 


2.449,689 


ii'A 


42.47 


Columbiana 






14,918 


466,074 


17 602 


680,360 


39><, 


38 65 


Coshocton 






29. (-,34 


663.172 


30,905 


1,2.59,625 


48 


40 75 


Crawford 






21.915 


607,617 


24.. 596 


991,294 


37>^ 


40.42 


Cnvahoga 






9,5G8 


306,103 


9 918 


463,994 


35 


46.78 


Darke 






36,0G7 


1,245, 1 6S 


49,437 


2,166 965 


39V<i 


43.83 


Defiance 






10,703 


320,722 


15.278 


0.53.284 


45^ 


42.76 


Delaware 






24822 


791,1,53 


33.063 


1 375,538 


44H 


41.60 


Erie 






12 519)4 


388 752 


17 941 


726 010 


40>3 


40.46 


Fairfield 






39.515 


1,195,407 


50,272 


2,160,383 


3634 


42.97 


Fayette 






52.277 


2,065,739 


06,762 


3 093.695 


46>3 


46.34 


Fianklia 






53,846 


1.749,253 


65,952 


2,6S0.820 


50 


40.64 


Fulton 






9.305 


296,769 


17,342 


098 874 


40 


40.29 


Gallia 






18,768 


422.650 


22,569 


076 920 


36% 


30 00 


Geauga 






5,800 


182 598 


5,691 


292.308 


47>i 


51. 36 


Gieene 






39,868 


1,477,753 


51.770 


2 388 519 


39 


46.13 


Guernsey 






19,226 


4(53.723 


20 239 


767 380 


41K 


37.91 


Hamilton 






29.961 


1,066,294 


23 404 


877.947 


38 


37 51 


Hancock 






28.107 


665.298 


37 005 


1,.587 935 


35,4 


42.91 


Hardin 






25,149 


511.229 


21,928 


963,400 


35 


43.93 


Harrison 






14,320 


4 19 419 


14,406 


627 32t 


41 


43.54 


Henry- 






7,501 


191.8:;.s 


15,404 


096,090 


41% 


45.18 


Highland 






57,276 


1,471.425 


57 230 


2,097.653 


42^2 


36.65 


Hocking 






15,177 


4no.l.s-j 


17 622 


556,462 


36 


3157 


Holmes 






16 856 


398 095 


19 624 


715,819 


40 


36.47 


Hmon 






28,836 


669 646 


26), 283 


1,033,180 


47K 


39 31 


Jackson 






16,481 


321,100 


17,965 


495.595 


32 


27 58 


Jetfersou 






13..507 


363,262 


14.195 


597,209 


38 


42.07 


Knox 






31 ,085 


762,691 


30 639 


1,315 785 


38 


42 94 


I,:lko 






•56,660 


181,208 


5,375 


244 040 


45 --i 


45 40 


Liwronce 






16 340 


257,147 


16.177 


4.56.441 


40>i 


28 21 


Lirking 






41,637 


l,303,Ols 


48 911 


2.260,797 


45 


46.34 


J.ogan 






27.743 


963, .557 


32,677 


1,348 496 


32 


41.27 


Lo ain 






13,928 


399 031 


15.205 


648 212 


3.SV4 


42.-46 


Jjucas 






6.07:; 


223 051 


9,663 


608,926 


30 


63.01 


Madison 






.35,129 


l,l:;3.327 


54,29i; 


2,446,336 


40 


45 05 


Mahoning 






11,308 


247.970 


11 932 


590,741 


41% 


49,50 


Mai-ion 






27,811 


810,115 


31 412 


1,455 997 


o^/s 


42 31 


Medina 






14,197 


456, 9i' 9 


13 .505 


650,336 


37 


40.75 


Meigs 






15,370 


393,570 


17,2.59 


547 676 


35 


31.73 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 
OHIO STATISTICS (CONTINUED). 



73 



INDIAN CORN. 



Counties) 



Mercer 

Miami 

Monroe 

Montgomery 

Morgan 

Morrow 

Jliiskingum 

Noble 

'Utawa 

Piinldiug 

I'eiry 

IMckaway 

Pike 

Portage 

Preble . 

Putnam 

Richland 

Ross 

Sandusky 

Scioto 

Seneca 

Shelby 

Stark 

Summit 

Trumbull 

Tuscarawas 

Union 

Van \A'ert 

Vinton 

Warren 

Washington 

Wayne 

Williams 

Wood 

Wyandott 



Acres Busliel 
planted, produced 



1H,096 
40,580 
lf.,8:56 
34,752 
17,096 
20,117 
31,286 
21,577 

4,188 

4,438 
19.197 
(U977 
25,594 

9,642 
38.9.58 
17,0.57 
23 516 
67.094 
13,566 
33,077 
22,923 
26,786 
18,073 
11,074K 

9,SS8 " 
19,908 
28,818 
11,770 
11,443 
42,924 
23,575 
22.77834 
11,407 
14,99114 
21,610 



506,171 

,451.9.57 
.383.178 

,282,322 
431,646 
625.931 
854,339 
519.760 
89,019 
137.093 
513,300 

,991.861 
849.860 
303,927 
549,223 
461,768 
618,781 
267,721 
323.021 
441,740 
633.878 
604,403 
567,170 
369,131 
318,609 
493.185 
862,567 
306,295 
274,37; 

,631, 97> 
609,932 
676,364 
369 699 
394 .504 
557,591 



Acres 
planted. 



Bushels 
produced 



28275 
43,918 
18.864 
44.528 
17,548 
21,261 
34.369 
21,993 
7.717 
9,291 
18,297 
83,289 
26,590 
10,051 
41,048 
26,051 
25,176 
71,673 
24,835 
23 859 
30,067 
28,793 
24,198 
13 623 
11719 
21,746 
38,917 
21,196 
14,116 
47,9.54 
24.885 
27,751 
18,455 
36,343 
44,163 



1,175.560 

1.753,554 
632,270 

1,630,941 
637,771 
882,37 

1,410,034 
8,S3.565 
365,080 
368,998 
760 921 

3,375 648 
849,171 
627.202 

1,, 597,695 

1,077.445 
905,198 

3,102 757 
979,040 
820 528 

1,168.732 
995,341 

1,707,601 
8,51,802 
674,391 
849,318 

1,649,271 
903,491 
455.000 

2 252 572 
806,744 

1,268,801 
784,270 

1,457,862 

1,071,875 



Av y'ldp'racre 



'47-,56 



34 

4i;-^ 

46 
37 
30 

44 

h 

39 

39 

433-3 

803^2 

33 

37 

36 

33 

46 

4'-2V2 

443/2 

28 

35 

35 



1872. 



41.57 
.39.93 
33.51 
36 62 
36.34 
41.50 
41.02 
40.17 
47.30 
39.00 
41.58 
40.. 53 
31.93 
62.40 
38.91 
41.35 
35.95 
43.29 
39.42 
34.39 
38.87 
34.56 
70.57 
62.,52 
57.54 
39.06 
42.37 
42.62 
32.23 
46.97 
32.41 
45.72 
42.49 
40.11 
24.27 



(k) Prices in Special Markets of U. S. Republic— The ap- 
plication of the great law of prices, that of demand and 
supply, to the maize product, must be guided by the political, 
as well as meteorological and industrial facts of the time. 
There was much exported in the early years of the Republic, 
in proportion to the population, and this, doubdess, stimu- 
lated prices. 

Quotations of market prices, even in our greatest cities, 
were not as full and frequent as they are now. The follow- 
ing fragmentary quotations are taken from the Price Current, 
7 



71 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



of New York City, in old copies of the New York Spectator, 
for the years 1799 and 1800-1, 2 and 3, including those of 
hog products : 





Corn, per 


Hams 


per 


Fork, per 


Prime per 


Mess, per 


1799, J"iy 17 


bushel 68c 


lb. lo-llc. 


bbl $1214 


bbl. $i3'4 


bbl. $16 


•' " 24 


68 cts. 


14 


cts. 


$i2;^-k 


^sH-H 


" 


" '■ 31 


68-72 " 


" 








K 


" August 7 


68-75 " 


i< 




K 


.< 


(( 


'• 28 


78-81 " 


a 




« 


$r3>2-i4 


(( 


" Sept. 4 

" '11 

1800, November 


North, do 


11 




Carg I2>< 


13/2 
.i 




$1 to $1 6 


14-16 


Cl 


"i3-i3>^ 


" i5;5^-i6 


$19-20 


'• December 


" 


13 


(1 


"13-14 


Same. 


.1 


1801, January 


(( 


12-13 




" 15-16 


" i7><-i8 


" 21-22 


" Feb. 11, lb 


$1 to $1 9 


12-13 


1( 


u 


a (1 


(; 


" " 25, 28 


" I 6 


14 


(1 


" iey2 


" 18 


"22 


*' Mar 7 to 18 


(( 


14 


(1 


" 


1 


,( 


1802, Nov, 8 


« 


14-16 


U 


" 12;^ 13 


" i5><-i6 


" 19-20 


" Nov. 24 


69-70 cts. 


16 


(1 


" i3-i3>^ 


"14 


" i7>^ 


" Dec. I 


u 


15 


11 


" i2>4-i3 


" I3>^-I4 


" 15-16 


" " 8 


68-71 " 


12 


(I 


" 12 


"13 


" 15 


" " 15 


i( 


9 


il 


"12K 


" 13K-14 


" i5-i5>^ 


" " 25 


(( 


u 




"13 


"14 


" 15 


1803, Feb. 9 I 


(1 


12-13 


<I 


"i3>^ 


"15 


" i6-i6>^ 


'• " 16 


<( 


lO-II 


It 


"13;^ 


•'15 


i( 


" Mar. 2 


(( 


Same. 


"13 


'•14K 


K 



It will be observed that the rise in prices was very rapid 
in the last months of 1799, the year in which General 
Washington died; the troubles with the French Government 
having been settled in September, and in the following year 
the seat of the American Government being transferred to 
"Washington City. The exports of Indian corn were 41 per 
cent., and of corn-meal 45 per cent, in 1800, over those of 
1799, and the increase of prices of these articles was in 
nearly the same proportion. Peace at last came to Europe, 
il 1802, and the rapid settlement and admission as a State 
of Ohio greatly increased the area for corn planting, and, 
doubtless, the product. Our territory was greatly enlarged, 
in 1803, by the purchase of Louisiana. The prices fell to 
their former rates in the same year, although the expoi ts 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURK. 



were as yet undiminished. A few items from an old account 
book, kept at Marietta, the oldest town in Ohio, from 1802 
to 1 8 18, will give some idea of the retail prices of corn and 
pork in that State during that interval. In 1802 fresh pork 
was sold at 4 cents per lb.; in 1803 pork by the quantity at 
5 cents, and some at 3)^ cents per lb., and corn bought at 
46^ cents per bushel; in 1804 a customer was credited 
with eight bushels at 50 cents each; bacon sold at 12}^ 
cents per lb. In 1805 fresh pork brought 5 cents; this was 
in September; in the winter previous clear pork sold for 
17 cents; in 1807 corn sold in May at 60, in July at 75 
cents. In January, 1808, pork was sold at 10 cents per lb , 
and in November, corn at 67 ^^ cents per bushel; in 1809 
corn at 33^ cents; also in 1810, when wheat brought 75 
cents, and pork by the quantity 3 and 4 cents; in 181 1 pork 
was charged at 8 cents, and in October of same year corn 
at 33 cents; in 1812, corn at 25 cents; in 1813, pork at 10 
cents; fresh at 6 cents; in 1815, pork at 12^3 and 16 
cents; in 1816, lard at 12^^ cents; in 1817, pork, at 12^ 
cents; in 18 18, October, corn sold at 24, and in November 
at 40 cents. 

Business was said to be more lively in the earlier than the 
later years of the above interval; ship-building being carried 
on there awhile to some extent. Corn seemed to have at- 
tained its highest price about the time Congress laid the em- 
bargo in 1807, inconsequence of the "decrees" of France 
and " orders in council" of Great Britain, which bore so 
hard on American commerce. The United States exports 
fell to a very low figure in the year following. After that, it 
is seen that in this Ohio town the price of corn fell more 
and more, till it reached 24 cents in 1818. The great'exten- 
sion of acreage from the rapid settlement of Kentucky, 
Ohio and Indiana, had greatly enlarged the supply before 
proper faciHties for transport had extended the demand. At 



76 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 

the same time, the prices of pork were maintained ; fresh 
pork having been lower in 1802 than in 1813, and bacon, in 
1804, selling for the same that pork did in 18 17. This 
shows that cured meats were at a premium, and that pack- 
ing, which is now so scientifically and economically done, 
was then in its infancy in the West. The following quota- 
tions of prices for Indian corn and provisions, so called, at 
Philadelphia, New York and Baltimore, for the years 1806 
and 1 807, and 1809 to 181 2, are taken from old volumes of 
the Philadelphia Aurora, New York Spectator and Baltimore 
Whig, issued tri-weekly or otherwise, for the country in 
those years ; and first, at Philadelphia : 

In 1806, from August 19 to December 24, mixed corn sold 
from 52 to 60 cents per bushel. It was the same on Janu- 
ary 14, 1807. On the 2 2d of April it was 60 to 68 cents. 
Indian meal, from August 19 to Nov. 18, i8c6, sold at $15 
per hhd , or S3. 25 per bbl. On August 26 the bbl. price 
was S3. 25 to S3. 50, and so continued till the 25th of No- 
vember, when the hhd, fell off Si ; the last quotation, on 
April 2 2d, being S14 per hhd. An imperfect cask would 
endanger more meal for being a large one. Late quota- 
tions have less to say about the hhd. Bacon began with 
1 1 cents in this interval, but on the 24th of December lost 
1 cent, and so continued till the 22d of April, 1807, proba- 
bly coming into sharp competition with fresh meat, or newly 
cured during the cold weather. Hams, on August 26, 
brought 14 to 15 cents per lb., and on the nth of Novem- 
ber gained one more cent, which was lost on January 14, 
1807, and in April was quoted at 12 to 15 cents. Lard be- 
f:an in August with 19 to 20 cents per lb ; probably it was 
the new rendering that reduced it to 16-17 on November 11, 
to 15.17 on December 24, to 15 on January 14, and to 14 on 
April 2 2d following. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



77 



Philadelphia pork was of two kinds, common, in August 
S23-24 per bbl , and mess ^26-2"]. November 11 reduced 
the first to Si 9 20 and the second to 23-24, which, in Janu- 
ary, became S22, and in April $20. 

Probably one or more of these cities supplied San Do- 
mingo, in part, with grain; but this Island, in 1809, was 
under siege, a condition carrying the law of prices to great 
extremes, and in this case bringing corn up to 50 cents per 
lb. ; fresh pork and ham to $2, and lard to $3 per lb., and 
salt pork to $700 per bbl. 

The monthly New York prices are thus averaged from the 
quotations of the Spectator from April 12 to December 12, 
1809; after that, those of Baltimore, from the Whig, are 
compared with them, as far as they go, up to May 5, 181 2. 
As the quotations do not appear in every number, and 
the Spectator was a tri weekly and the Whig a weekly, the 
number of quotations averaged is stated in parenthesis, 
just after the name of the month, for New York, and in the 
first Baltimore column : 





Ind corn 


Corn m'ljLard per 


Hamsp'r 


Pork 


" 




Xnrth. 


per hhd. 






Cargo. Prime. 


Me~spiT 




Bushels. 


snoihs. 


lb. etc. 


lb. Cts. 


Dollars. DoLs. Cts. 


bl)l.Dols 


1809 Ap(3)l 62.3c. 


$18 


I0M-12 


10-13 


10 50 |i2 t;o 


i(j 


" My (8) 


71H 


18/, 


II-I2 


1 1-14 


II 62 


1350 


16-17 


" Tun (7) 


73 3 


18 


II-I2 


11-14 


12 


1328 


■' 


" .ny(7) 


77 


18 


II 


10-14 


II',<-I2 12.^0-13 


i6'.<-i7 


" Alt (9'i 


81.5 


iS 


II 


14-15 


II i<-12 


'• 




" Sep (7) 


S2.8 


18 


II-I2 


" 


io;4-ii 


II. 50-12 


i6-i6;i 


" Oct (S) 


N87 
S.806 


191^-22 

bl4-4^< 


(( 


i( 


10 


II 50 


11 


" N'v(7) 


X 1. 00 


25IUI. 


li 


i( 


10 


11 


u 


^•9+ 


t, hhl 













The hyphen placed between two numbers in the.^e tables 
stands for the preposition /o, and indicates the relation be- 
tween the extremes of price of the given article at the given 
time ; for instance^ in April, 1S09, lard was lojto 12c. per lb. 



78 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



< 




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17-18 

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19 20 
20-22 
21 22 
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20-22 

19 20 

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17-18 
17-18 

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3 


>•€_,*_ "--.^^ "^b*^ ■„ '"-^_ T-r--. ■ 

;• = S &■■? >.^ >.rrtr-§ >• -J 2 != 't-: >.2 > bit^ o >• -^ 5ir >. 
::3 ^iis -^, ?=".;;< -^ o ».=. ►^ ^S <;S =■- --^-ZQ.q 5:, <;s 
J^l ^ J,_ . 

X S ' " ' ' X X 



For December, 1809, and January, 1810, hog's lard 
r. iltimore was quoted at 14 cents per lb ; prime pork at 
per bbl ; cargo at Sio to Sii; Baltimore navy at % 
Southern second at S14, and Souihern third at S12. 



for 
$15 
16; 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 7"J 

The porker has long been recognized in agricultural prac- 
tice as the best carrier of the maize product to market. 
His feet, compared with those of other farm animals of 
the same average weight, are small; but when half-grown, 
es])ecially when escaping from confinement, he makes use of 
them to great advantage. And vvhen ripe for his final con- 
version into pork, bacon and lard, the ten bushels of corn 
with which he is loaded do not prevent him from taking 
long walks in company with his kind. But since the rail- 
road has presented such facilities for the transport of live- 
stock, this fat producer often enjoys a long ride before giv> 
ing up his life to increase his master's comforts. But before 
the railroad, or any other fast conveyance, had cheapened 
inland live freights, the prices of Indian corn made a show- 
ing of such a proportion to those of pork, lard and bacon, 
as to prove that this grain was the main reliance of those 
Avho produced these articles. This will be seen if the above 
tables are carefully examined. 

Among the earliest records of the American prices for 
maize after the establishment of our present government are 
those contained in the letters of General Washington to his 
brother agriculturalists at home and abroad, and in his pub- 
lished diaries and plans for farm management. Mr. Sparks, 
the editor of these, and other relics of the great patriot's 
literary labors, has introduced one of his schemes for rota- 
tion which extended over some years subsequent to his 
death. He estimated, for instance, the probable yield for 
1800 of some seventy-five acres of his farm, according to a 
contemplated rotation, at 12^ bushels per acre, which 
would bring 2s. 6d. jjer bushel, being 6d. less than the price 
was stated to be in 1789. It does not appear whether this 
was according to the old South Carolina currency of 4s. 6d. 
to the dollar, or according to that of New Jersey, which 
required 7s. 6d. for a dollar. 



80 IXniAN CORN AND ITS CXrLTUKE. 

In July, 1799, the price of corn at New York to tliat of 
mess pork was nearly as one to twenty three and one -half ; 
in November, 1800, it was about as one to twenty ; in De- 
cember, 1802, as one to twenty-one and one half; on De- 
cember 2,1809, as one to seventeen and one-third. The ex- 
ports of Indian corn had greatly diminished after 1804, and 
also of hogs and pork, in consequence of the oppressive 
measures of the European belligerent powers; one hundred 
and sixteen American vessels having been captured by the 
British in 1805, under their Orders in Council, and one hun- 
dred and ninety- four in 1807; and there being a greater 
supply for home consumption, the price would necessarily 
fall, as it appears by the Philadelphia prices, above quoted, 
to have done. Pork, occupying a much smaller space in the 
vessel, in proportion to its value, would have a better chance 
of being profitably exported, especially to places which the 
cruisers would be less likely to visit. It was probably the 
excess of the pork over the maize exports that made the lat- 
ter, at Philadelphia, in 1806, stand to the former as one to 
forty-seven. The ratio of the Baltimore prices of these 
articles was about the same as at New York in 1802. The 
high prices of maize in November, 1800, were repeated in 
New York in November, 1809, and in the latter part of 
18 16 rose to $1.80 per bushel. Corn was so scarce for feed- 
ing purposes that flax-seed, which had been largely exported 
to Ireland, was recommended as a substitute. Mr. Ewell, 
in the same year, wrote for the National Intelligencer, (pub- 
lished at Washington City, and mainly devoted to reports of 
Congressional debates, and probably having a very wide 
circulation through the Union), in favor of grinding and 
cooking Indian corn, in view of its great scarcity, for feed- 
ing domestic animals, as though that was then a new thing 
to American farmers. 



INDIAN CORN AND IT3 CULTURE. 81 

The country papers in the West, during the early years of 
this century, were more in the habit of quoting prices at 
New York, Philadelphia or Baltimore than in the young 
towns they represented. The Western Spy stated that 
lard in New Orleans, on the 26th of July, 1817, of prime 
quality, sold for 22 cts. per lb., which was copied into the 
American Friend of August 29, 1817. Occasionally, how- 
ever, they ventured on a price current of their own. For 
instance, the American Friend, issued at Marietta, Ohio, 
contained the following prices at that place, at the following 
dates : 



1820. 


Corn per bu. 


Corn-meal per bu. 


Bacon per lb. 


June 30 


40 cents 


37 to 40 cents 


7 to 8 cents 


July 28 


40 " 


37 to 44 " 


7 to 8 " 


August II 


40 " 


37 to 44 « 


7 to 8 " 



If a barrel of mess pork contained 200 lbs. and sold for 
$16, each pound would be 8 cts., and the ratio of corn at 
40 cents to mess pork at the above price would be as i to 40, 
showing that bacon was more valuable, in proportion to 
maize, at Marietta in 1820 than at New York in 1809. The 
The Ohio Monitor (Columbus, O.,) for Novembers, 1821, 
gives the Philadelphia price current, with the items of 
Pennsylvania corn at 50 cts. and Southern at 47 cts. per 
bushel, and bacon at 6 cts. per lb. If bacon bore the same 
price as mess pork at that city, the ratio of a barrel of 200 
pounds to a bushel of the Pennsylvania corn would be about 
24 to I. The difference in the prices at Marietta and Phila- 
delphia, at nearly the same times would not begin to pay for 
the transport to the latter place in 1820. Most probably the 
Southern maize came by sea, and that very little Western 
reached the Eastern cities in those days. The same Colum- 
bus journal, however, on the 25th of January, 1822, only 
two months after its former date, quotes the Philadelphia 
prices of maize at 80 cts. for Pennsylvania, and 75 cts. for 
Southern. The fluctuations in these quotations were proba- 



82 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

bly much greater and more rapid than they are now, when 
freights are comparatively fast and cheap. The Scioto Ga- 
zette of November 19, 1823, quotes corn at ChiUicothe, O., 
at 20 to 25 cts , and cornmeal at 25 to 37^2 cts. per bushel, 
and bacon 6 to 10 cts per lb. The quotations for Dec. 23 
were the same. 

Some idea of the standard price of Indian corn and swine 
products at the exporting cities, in the early part of this cen- 
tury, may be obtained by dividing the values of the same ar- 
ticles exported, as set forth in U. S, documents, by the re- 
spective quantities — bushels or pounds. This would give 
for the export price of Indian corn, for the year ending 
September 30, 1827, 54 cts. per bushel, and ^3 27 per bbl. 
for cornmeal. We have chosen as the representative quan- 
tities those exported in that year to the Swedish West Indies. 
In the Government statement of exports the quantities of pork, 
hams, bacon and lard are lumped together in barrels and 
pounds and then valued. Allowing 200 pounds for each barrel 
"the above process would give about 5A- cts. as the average of 
these products for a pound, which would be lower than the 
last named quotation for bacon at Philadelphia. For the 
year ending September 30, 1836, the export price of corn 
was 97 cts., and that of cornmeal 1^. 21 (to the Swedish 
West Indies), and the average of pork, lard, hams and ba- 
con about g'^ cts. Supposing the barrel of mess pork was 
reckoned at Si 8, the ratio of the prices of maize and mess 
pork, by the bushel and barrel respectively, would be as i 
to 18. The Erie Canal had already been opened then, in- 
creasing the value of Indian corn. 

Returning to the old newspapers, which are probably our 
best guide : The American Watchman, issued from Wilming- 
ton, Delav/are, gives a summary of the prices at different 
points and dates in 1815, viz.: July 14, at Norfolk, Va, 
where the authorities did '-not recollect ever to have seen 



TXDTAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 83 

the market so badly supplied, nor such exorbitant prices 
demanded for every article of food," bacon sold for 20 cts., 
and meal at the moderate price of %\. — per bushel. [The 
blank for cents is left to be filled by the reader's imagination, 
as a sharp tooth has eaten off the number from the original 
document.] The New York price for cornmeal was quoted 
at S5 to 5 50 per bbl., and ^23 to $24 per hhd. of Soo lbs; 
white and yellow corn at ^i to $1 03 ; hams at 16 to 17 cts. 
On August 5 it gives quotations as of July 28: At Rich- 
mond, Va. — Corn S4.50 to $5 per bbl ; cornmeal, $1.17^ to 
$1.25 per bushel ; bacon, 16 to 18 cts. At Baltimore as of 
July3t — Corn, Si. 05 to $1.10 per bushel; at Charleston, 
Si to Si. 12^; bacon 14 to 15 cts. The same journal for 
August 19th complains of drought as prevalent in the sec- 
tion it represents, and notices destructive hail-storms in 
Canada. 

Some imperfect files of the Cincinnati Gazette, printed for 
the country, were found to contain no prices current from 
August 5th, 1S15, to June i, 1822 — probably some of the 
missing numbers did. At the last date there were quota- 
tions for New Orleans of May 4 -Corn per bbl., in the ear, 
75 cts ; cornmeal, $2 to S2 50 per bbl ; bacon hams, 9 to 10 
cts. per lb.; lard, 7 cts. per lb., and mess pork, Sii to $11.50 
per bbl. The number for November 23, 1824, contains a 
detailed price current, with the title torn off, which gives the 
prices of pork from S7 to S8 per bbl.; lard, 6 to 7 cts j.er 
lb , and ham-s baconed, at 5 to 6^ cts. A full review of the 
Cincinnati market for July 16, 1828, appears in the issue of 
the previous day (the weekly, Liberty Hall and Cincinnati 
Gazette), but does not include grain. Mess pork was Sio per 
bbl, and prime S8 ; lard, in bbls , 4 cfs., in kegs, 4^ to 5 
cts ; bacon, hog round, 4 to 4^ cts.; hams, 6 to 8 cts. The 
]irobable reason why so little notice is taken of Indian corn 
in ihese early Western city prices is because the facilities for 



84 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTPRE. 

carrying it to great markets were so few. This grain could 
be shipped down the Ohio and Mississippi, but it was a long 
distance to New Orleans, and the omission of it in this re- 
view shows that there was no great demand for it at Cincin- 
nati. 

About this time, the author of this work, then a small boy, 

was employed for some nine months in a store at Coshocton, 
Ohio, which, like other country stores, dealt in dry goods, 
groceries, hardware, &c., and received, to some extent, pro- 
duce and farm manufactures in exchange. At that time, 
Zanesville, some thirty miles below, on the Muskingum 
River, containing some large water-mills, was the grain em- 
porium for that section. It was generally wagoned there, 
the river improvement not having then been made. One 
afternoon a team laden with wheat destined for Zanesville, 
stopped at the store and stated that they had come a con- 
siderable distance from an adjoining county, and were tired 
of the journey, and if fair terms could be made, they would 
take the price of their load in goods. Twenty-five cents a 
bushel was offered them for their wheat, and accepted and 
exchanged for goods at a heavy profit. At that time the 
price of wheat at Zanesville was 28 cts. The price of In- 
dian corn is not recollected, as the merchants preferred 
wheat, tow-linen and home-made linsey. Some ten years 
later, when residing in Southern Illinois, where the soil was 
an fertile as the climate was sickly, the audaor was told of 
fields of corn sold standing at 6 cts. per bushel. The great 
Illinois railroads were then all on paper. Flat boats were 
then the great resource for shippers of maize, and New Or- 
leans and the intervening river ports furnished the leading 
markets. 

On the 9th of October, 1S28, the Liberty Hall, &c , 
contained a more complete review of the market. Corn was 
25 cts. per bushel; bacon hams, 6 to 8 cts.; country do, 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



63^; Lird, 5 to 5^; hog round, 4^ to 5; middlings, 5 to 
55^, and shoulders, 3 to 4. This review was now corrected 
weekly for the daily Gazette by Thomas Clark. Live hogs 
sold for 2Y2 to 3 cts. per lb. Barrel pork, in due time, ap- 
peared on the list; clear at Sio to ^11 ; mess at i 8 to ^8 50. 

These prices continued, with very little change, the re- 
mainder of the year. Mast-fed hogs brought about 30 cts. 
less per 100 lbs. than corn-fed. 

A review of the New York market, from the Journal of 
Commerce of October 13, appears in the daily Gazette of 
October 24, quoting Northern yellow at 55 to 56 cts.; Long 
Island white, 50 to 52, and Southern 40 to 42 cts. Southern 
corn, which, so far, has generally brought less than Northern 
\.\ New York and Philadelphia, has gained on its rival in 
more modern quotations. This may be caused by the great 
increase in the demand for this grain in the cities as horse 
feed, and, perhaps, by its growing use for making cakes or 
bread, the large, soft white variety being more produced at 
the South. 

The average New York prices of maize for October 13, 
1828, were about double those of Cincinnati. The maize 
and mess pork ratio for Cincinnati in December, 1828, was 
about I to 12 in price. The review of the Boston market 
for the week ending August 3, 1821, shows very nearly the 
same prices for maize as at New York, Northern being held 
at 51 to 52, and Southern at 43 to 45 cts. Wheeling, Va., 
was a growing place in 1825; its Gazette of July 23, in that 
year, quoted corn at Baltimore, on the nth, 45 to 46 cts. 
for white, and 44 to 45 cts. for yellow. Its issue for Septem- 
ber 29 quotes corn meal at Baltimore, on the 12th, at S2 75 
per bbl. and §12 per hhd. The same journal, for May 31, 
1828, quotes New Orleans prices for May 3 — Bacon hams at 
7J2 to 8 cts, and sides at 5 to 6 cts.; and on June 7, quotes 
the New Orleans prices the same for these articles, with the 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



addition of lard at 6 to 7 cts ; mess pork at ?i 1.50 to Si 2 ; 
].riine at Sio, and cargo at 88. The subscriber to the \Vh el- 
ing Gazette, residing in that city would then read the Balti- 
more quotations when they were from twelve to seventt en 
days old, and of New O. leans prices Avhen they weiefour 
werks old. Compare this with the journalism of half a 
century later, and it will be seen what the telegraph has 
done for commerce. 

The Wheeling Gazette for the 12th and 26th of November, 
1S28, and 7th and 14th of January, 1829, quotes cornmeal 
in its own market, at 37 15 cts. per busliel, and pork at 3 
and 4 cts per lb , and on the 8th of July, the former at 37 
to 50 cts., and the latter at 4 and 5 cts. On the 31st of 
January, 1829, corn is quoted at 25 els; mess pork, ?9 to 
V 10 ; making the bushel and barrel price of corn and pork as 
I to 40; prmie at $7.50 to S8, and fresh pork in hhds 2^ to.3 
cts. per lb ; lard at 5 to 6 cts. Nearly the same quotations 
appear in the weekly issues for February and March, 1829. 
Bacon was once or twice quoted at 6^^ cts. In the previous 
year, operations were begun on the Avork of the Baltimore 
and Ohio Railroad, it being stated, in August, 1828, that 
the work had been put under contract as far as Endicott's 
IMills. There was considerable speculation, in those days, 
as to where it would terminate on the Ohio. Wheeling had 
influence enough to secure a branch of it to that place before 
tlie natural terminus for this great Western road, on that 
ri\er, was fixed at Parkersburg. In the spring of 1828, an 
act of Congress made the United States a stock-holder in 
the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal for one million dollars. 
These movements, and other contemplated facilities for 
transportation, gave a new impetus to business in the West. 
Previous to this, the National Turnpike Road, passing 
through Wheeling, Zanesville, &c., was tlie great Western 
land route. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 87 

The lengtii of time required for bringing Eastern quota- 
tions to ihe knowledge of the readers of Western journals 
is further shown by the New York prices for April 22, 1829, 
quoted in the Cincinnati Gazette for May 2. These were — 
For Indian meal, $3.50 to $^.62}^ per bbl, and Si 4. to 
$14.50 per hhd ; for corn^ yellow Northern, 54 to 56 ; white 
Long Island and Jersey, 5410 58, and Southern, 70 to 71 
cts. This decided preference for Southern maize seems a ' 
new feature in New York prices. But in the issue of the 
same journal for September 5, 1830, Boston prices for Sep- 
t^-mber 4, for corn, are quoted at 55 to 61 cts for Southern < 
white and yellow flat, and Northern at 66 cts. per bushel ; 
and New Orleans prices of August 28 at 7 to 7^^ cts. 
for bacon. This, however, was an exceptional case. 

In the interval between December 31, 1829, and January 
9, 1833, an imperfect file of thirty Gazettes for the Country 
shows some eleven quotations of Cincinnati prices, viz : Of 
corn, beginning with 25 cts. per bushel, and ending with 31 
cts — the lowest being 20 and the highest 40 ; three quota- 
tions of cornmeal, for the year ending December 30, showed 
a range of 28 to 37^ cts. per bushel; nine of pork by 
the barrel, from December 9, 1830, to January 9, 1833, 
placed mess at S9 to Sio; prime at $8 to ^9; cargo at S5 50 
to $6 50; clear pork being once quoted at ^11. In eleven 
quotations, city bacon hams, by the pound, ranged from 6 
to 8 cts., and hog round fell from 6^4 to 4I3 cts , and lard 
rose, i.i nine months, from 4}4 to 8 cts, and gradually de- 
clined to 6. In three quotations for the year ending De- 
cember 9, 1830, country hams were 5 to 6 cts., shoulders 3 
to 6, and middlings 6 to 6^2 cts. per lb. The lowest rati ) 
in the above interval of the value of the maize bushel to th t 
of mess pork barrel was i to 50, and the highest i to 2^, 
Live hogs sold, in December '29, at Si. 75 to 62.50, and in 
January ';^;^, at $3 to S3 37 per 100 lbs. 



88 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

The Saturday Evening Post quotes Philadelphia prices for 
July 8, 1836 — Cornmeal, S4.00 per bbl., 818 to $19 in lihds. 
Corn, L. C. white at 73 to 75 cts ; L. C. yellow at 78 to 80 
cts., and U. C. round at 83 to 85 cts. Does L. C. and U. C. 
mean Upper and Lower Canada? 

The Cincinnati Gazette, in April, 1837, had a quotation 
for the Queen City of 40 cts. for corn; 7 1.2 to 8 cts for 
lard; 818 to S19 per bbl. for clear pork; 616 to Si 7 for 
mess; S14 to $15 for prime, and bacon hams 10 to 12^-^ cts. 
per lb. The maize and mess pork ratio here would be as i 
to 41. 

Boston quotations, as compared with those of other great 
Eastern cities, have less interest in the Western maize grow- 
ing regions. A few from 1839 to 1850 may suffice here: 

1839, June 5, (Mercantile Journal) — Corn, Southern flat 
yellow, 95 to 96 cts. per bushel; Soudiern flat white, 90 to 
91. Cornmeal, kiln dried §4.25 to $4.37^ per bbl. Pork, 
extra clear, ^27 to S28 ; clear, $26 to $27; prime, $18 to 
§19 per bbl. Lard, 13 to i^)4 cts. per lb. 

1840, September 30, (Boston Journal) — Corn, Southern, 
61 to 62 ; Southern white, 57 cts. Kiln dried meal, $3.12 
10^3.25 per bbl. Mess pork, (bbl), §15 to $15.25; extra 
clear, $16.50 to $17; clear, $16 to $16.50; prime, $13.50. 
Lard, 12 j4 cts. per lb. ; hams, ii^/^ to 12. 

1840, October 12, (Journal) — Corn, Southern yellow, 61 
cts; do. white, 55 cts. per bushel. Cornmeal, same as on 
Sept. 30th. Pork, lard and hams, same. 

1844, November 13, (American Republican) ^Corn, 
Southern white, 47 to 48 cts. Meal, (bbl), $2.62 to $2.75, 
]\.)rk, clear, $10 to $10 50 per bbl.; mess, $9 to S9 50. 
Lnrd, Southern and Western, 5^^ to 6}4 cts. per lb. Hams, 
Boston, 7 cts.; Southern and Western, 5 to 6)4 cts 

1850, August 15, (Evening Traveler) — Corn, Northern, 71 
to 72 cti,; Southern yellow flat, 68 cts.; do. white, 65. In- 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 89 

dian meal, S3. 12 to $3.25. Pork, extra clear, S13; clear, 
$12. 50.; mess, $10 75 to $11.25; prime, $9 to $9.25 per bbl. 
I.ard, 7 to 714 cts. Hams, Boston, 9^ cts.; Southern and 
Western, 8^ to pets, per lb. 

In contrast with these, we will add New Orleans quota- 
tion : 

1839, May 21. New Orleans (from Missouri Republican). 
— Corn in the ear, 90 cts. per bbl.; shelled, in sacks, 65 to 68 
cts. per bushel. Pork, clear, S23 to S24 per bbl; mess $22. 
M. O, $19 50 to $20.; prime, $18.; P. O., $16.50 to $17; 
bulk pork, 7 to 714 cts. on levee. Bacon hams, 10^ toii^ 
cts. per lb; canvassed, 11^ to 12 cts. Shoulders, 7^ cts. 
Middlings, 9)^ to 10 cts. Lard, 10 to 12 cts. 

The. following tables are, in part, averaged from the quota- 
tions in the leading journals of the great cities. Different 
cities have different styles of quotation, which have changed 
from time to time. It will be seen that, in the North-eastern 
cities, the leading classes of maize quoted are Northern and 
Southern white and yellow. After the great facilities for 
transportation were attained. Western came in for a large 
share, and the qualities were often distinguished by numbers. 
The differences between ear and shelled were pointed out, 
and mixed was a more common designation for the color. 
In New York quotations the mode of conveyance was often 
made a part of the description, as by sail, by steamer, &c. 

In cities where speculation in grain is largely entered into, 
as Chicago, the difference between the cash down and the 
prices on time are indicated as seller, March, &c ; for win- 
ter quotations, &c , September, &c, , for the early dates in 
August. The condition in which the grain is brought to 
market is often noted, as damaged, sound and unsound, and 
the place where it is on sale, as on track, in elevator, at up- 
per or lower depot, &c. 



90 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

The Cincinnati prices of corn in 1839 show the favorable 
results of canal navigation. Special notice was given in the 
Liberty Hall and Gazette to the movements on the Miami 
Canal, and reference was made to the Canadian Welland 
Canal, which completed the chain of lake navigation to Os- 
wego. In the interval between May i6th and Oct. 3d, 
1839, corn, at Cincinnati declined from 60 to 50 cts. per 
bushel, and mess pork from $21 to $13.75 per bbl. Corn- 
meal, in September, was 75 to 80 cts per bushel Bacon 
fluctuated less. Hams ranged from 9 to 11 cts., except sugar- 
cured (14 cts). 

The Gazette of September 19 quotes corn at Cincinnati, 
59 to 60 cts. for September 17; at New Orleans, 52 to 62}^ 
cts. for September 4; at New York, 78 cts. for September 
12, and at Boston, 80 to 86 cts. for September 11. 

The prices of mess pork in New York City, for the five 
years, respectively, ending 1827, were $13.31; $13.78; 
$13.83; $ii.55,and$i3.2i per bbl. Five years ending 1832, 
$i3.7ij $12.79; ^13-64; $14.30, andSi3.77. Five years end- 
ing 1837, $14.97 ; §14.29; $16.96; $23.13, and $21.66. For 
the five years ending 1842, $21.97 ; $19.32; $15.07 ; $11.36, 
and $9.27. Five years ending 1847, $10.32; $9.28; $12 13; 
$10.50, and $15.00. 

PRICES CURRENT OF AMERICAN MAIZE AND PROVISIONS IN 
ENGLAND. (SEE U. S. P. O. REPORT, 1 844. 

Indian corn, duty paid, per 480 lbs £ i los to £ i 12s 

Pork, U. S., prime mess, in bond, per bbl £ 2 6s to £ 2 los 

" " '• in bond. " £ 1 17s to £ 2 

" Canadian prime mess, in bond, " £ 2 los to £ 2 14s 

" " " in bond, " £ 2 4s to £ 2 6s 

" " middles, tierces, duty p'd per 336 lbs £ 5 los to £ 5 i6s 

Hams, dry in bond, per cwt £ I 8s to £ 2 

Lard, fine leaf, in kegs, duty paid, per cwt £ 2 2s to £ 2 6s 

" Secondary, in bbls " " £1 i6s to £ i i8s 

" Inferior " " £ i 12s to £ i I4.<5 

Lard oil, duty paid, per ton £42 to £43 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



91 



The following statement of comparative prices in New 
York and Liverpool is from U. S. P. O. Report, 1847 • 

Indian corn with 7 per cent, exchange, and sterling freight, 
5 per cent, primage, gives the estimate below. To cover 
cost and charges of purchase in New York and sales in 
Liverpool, prices in New York for 56 lbs., 
at 45 cts., require sales in Liverpool at 30s 2d per 480 lbs 



50 




55 




60 




65 




70 




75 




80 




85 




90 




95 




100 


(( C( 



" 32s 


id 


" 34s 


i}4d 


- 36s 


3d 


" 38s 


4d 


** 40s 


6d 


" 42s 


8d 


" 45s 




" 47s 


3d 


" 49s 


6d 


" 5IS 


9d 


" 54s 





If freights ranged from lod., with 5 per cent, primage, to 
2 s. for imperial bushel, from p^^d. to 12s. added per 480 
lbs., to above. 

PRICES CURRENT OF AMERICAN PRODUCE AT LIVERPOOL, 
JANUARY 3, 1845, (from U. S. P. O, REPORT, 1844). ; 



Hams in canvass, per cwt £1 los to £2 6s 

Indian corn, duty paid, 480 lbs £l us to £1 13s 

Lard, fine leaf, in kegs, duty paid, per cwt £2 4s to £2 6s 

" " in barrels, " " £1 17s to £1 i8s 

" inferior " " " £1 13s to £1 i6s 

Pork, thin mess, per bbl £2 los to £3 

" mess, " £2 2s to £2 4s 

" prime " £l i6s to £1 i8s 

Aggregate average price of foreign grain for six 

weeks, to December 21, 1844, Indian corn 32s 

Compare this with the following prices in New York for 
the years 1864-5, ^"d in England July, '64. 



92 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 





i860 


1861. 
$ 3-15 


1862. 


1863. 


Jan. '64. 


July, '64. 


En 64 


Cornm'l bl 


$3.80 


$ 3-00 


$ 4.00 


$ 5-65 


$ 8.00 





Corn, bu. 


95 


72 


64 


82 


1.30 


1.68 


«5 


Pork, mess 


16.25 


16.00 


12.00 


14.50 


19-50 


42.50 





" prime 


11.75 


10.50 


8.50 


12.50 


1450 


35.00 





Hams, lb 


9 


8 


6 


8 


II 


17^ 


19 


Should, lb. 




.Si 


4^ 


5^ 


8J 


15 




Lard, lb. 


10 


I0| 


8| 


10 


13 


I9i 


13 



Mr. Cist, in his article in U. S. P. O., 1847, on tlie hog crop 
of the United States, says of the different classes of cured 
pork, packed in barrels, that they are made up of the different 
sizes and conditions of hogs — the finest and fattest making 
clear and mess pork, while the residue is put up into prime 
pork or bacon. ".The inspection laws require that clear poi k 
shall be put up of the sides, with the ribs out. It takes the 
largest class of hogs to receive this brand. Mess pork — all 
sides, with two rumps to the barrel. Prime — for this, pork 
of lighter weight will suffice ; two shoulders, two jowls, and 
sides enough to fill the barrel make the contents. Two hun- 
dred pounds of meat is required by the inspector, but 196 
lbs. packed here, it is ascertained, will weigh out more than 
the former quantity in the Eastern or Southern markets. 
The mess pork is used for the commercial marine and the 
United States Navy." "The prime is packed for ship use and 
the Southern markets. The clear pork goes out to the cod 
and mackerel fisheries." Bulk pork, for immediate use, was 
sent off in flat-boats for the lower Mississippi, but the great 
mass was sent into the smoke-houses, each of which cured 
from 175.000 to 500,000 lbs. at a time. There the bacon 
was kept till wanted for shipment, and then packed in hhds. 
containing 800 or 900 lbs, "the hams, sides and shoulders put 
up each by themselves." 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 
XXIII. 



93 



MONTHLY PRICES OF INDIAN CORN AT NEW ORLEANS, FOR 
THE FOLLOWING YEARS: 



January . 

I'ebruary 

March 

April . 

May 

June 

July 

August 

Sepiember 

October 

November 

December. 



1843. 
Cts. 



42 to 43 



1844. 
Cts. 



36 to sS 

32 to 33 

35 

40 to 42 

40 to 41 

33 to 35 
40 to 43 
40 to 45 
43 to 44 



37 to 40 40 

34 to 35 43 to 45 

43 to 45 31 to 37 



1845. 

Cts. 



1038 
to 40 
to 41 
to 36 
to 38 
to 32 
to 34 
to 36 
to 42 
to 38 
to 50 
to 82 



1846. 

Cts. 



to 6 
to 50 
to 52 
to 50 
to 50 
to 40 
to 32 

to 35 
to 40 
to 65 
to 75 
to 70 



1847. 
Cts. 



55 to 
80 to 
75 to 
80 to 
55 to 
65 to 
65 to 

40 to 
50 to 
so to 

41 to 
45 to 



Ct> 



10 00 

to 55 
to 42 
to 38 
to 28 
to 36 
to 39 
to 42 



The above was taken from U S. P. O. Report, 1848. The 
prices are for corn in sacks. This is frequently the character 
of the St. Louis quotations, which are so intimately con- 
nected with the Southern Mississippi trade. 

The monthly prices at New Orleans of mess pork and 
other hog products, for a portion of the interval covered by 
the above table, will be found in the same volume. Mess 
pork, in September, 1846, was $8.75 to $8.87 ^^ per bbl., and 
in January, 1847, was a little higher, ($g.i2}4 to $9.5,0. It 
rose suddenly to 814 and $14 50 in February, and then 
gradually to $16.25 and S16.50 in July; after which, it 
gradually declined to $8.16 4-6 and $8,371^ in May, 1848 ; 
rising again to $10 in August following. Texas was annexed 
in 1845, and the Mexican War came off in 1847. 

For many years New Orleans received a large portion of 
the Western trade. 

The following will give some idea of the earlier move- 
ments of Indian corn Eastward : 



94 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



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INDIAN CORN ANB ITS CULTURE. 



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96 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



MONTHLY PRICES OF HOG PRODUCTS AT NEW YORK CITY, 
FROM U. S. REPORT ON COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION. 



XXVII. 
MESS POKK PER BBL- (DOLLARS). 





1864. 1 1865. 


1866. 


1867. 


1868. 


Jan. 


«19 75 


@20 OU 


«36 00(0)36 50 


$27 75 (§28 25 


820 00@20 75 


$20 90(§21 15 


Feb. 


19 V2y2(<i.2i 25 


34 50@35 50 


27 75 ©28 00 


19 50(§20 00 


20 60ia;2U 75 


Mar. 


21 00 


@23 50 


33 00@34 00 


28 00 @2S V2}4 


20 50(oi21 10 


22 70(0-23 00 


April 


22 25 


@24 25 


25 50ft(i-26 50 


25 H7}4@>G 00 


23 25foi,23 75 


20 75(o;21 25 


May 


20 00 


©28 75 


25 50^1(26 00 


28 62 @29 00 


23 Wm:\ 25 


23 00(o2o 75 


June 


29 75 


©30 00 


21 00(iSj21 50 


30 25 @30 50 


23 0(l(o;23 25 


23 75(o:24 00 


July 


34 00 


@37 00 


2:5 50(ai24 75 


31 50 (§32 OC 


22 00(>i;2-l 50 


27 65@27 75 


Aug. 


35 00 


@36 00 


29 00(<i;35 00 


31 25 @31 75 


23 50@i23 75 


21 00(0,25 00 


Sept, 


37 50 


@3S 00 


29 50rt<i30 50 


32 50 @33 00 


24 50(§25 00 


25 7r,(d2{\ m 


Oct. 


38 00 


@38 50 


31 00@34 25 


33 00 (§33 50 


23 75r§24 00 


21 00(025 00 


Noy. 


40 50 




33 62(0)34 12 


32 50 (§35 00 


21 00(§21 75 


23 50(026 50 


Dec. 


36 00 




28 00@28 50 


21 50 (§22 00 


21 50@21 85 


25 50(§25 87 




1869. 1 1870. 


.: 


1871. 


1872. I 1873 


Jan. 


126 50 


26 75 


$■19 50@:-:0 00 


!0 00@20 50 


S14 00 


S14 75 


Feb. 


26 00 


27 50 


26 50(a,26 75 


22 cS7r«,23 00 


14 50 


14 Obmi 37J^ 


Mar. 


28 50 


30 00 


26 25@26 50 


22 00(t<i22 VlVn 


14 00 (§14 05 


14 25@15 37!^ 


Apiil 


28 75 


30 00 


27 00@27 25 


20 00(ni21 3711 


13 37i^@13 50 


17 00(Jiil7 25 


May 


28 50 


29 00 


25 50@25 75 


17 00(0(17 25 


13 85 


18 50@19 00 


June 


28 00 


28 25 


20 75@J9 87 


15 50 


13 25 (§13 30 


19 00(§20 00 


July 


28 00 


29 00 


29 25 


14 62i/,i4 87>y 


13 25 @13 30 


16 20(§;10 50 


Aug. 


SO 00 


30 50 


29 00@30 


13 50((i:13 62J^ 


12 25 @12 50 


15 00(§15 25 


Sept. 


30 50 




30 00@32 00 


13 50(^;'3 75 


13 50 @14 00 


17 75 


Oct. 


33 00 




23 50 


13 50(gil3 &214 


14 00 (§14 25 


17 00(517 12% 


Nov. 


24 50 


25 50 


24 00@24 25 


13 25 


14 50 (§14 75 


18 00ff.l9 00 


Dec. 


23 75 


24 00 


22 00@22 50 


13 '^@n 50 


14 00 (§15 00 


17 00^17 50 



XXVIII. 
PICKLED HAMS PER LB. (CTS). 





1864 


1865. 


1866. 


181)7. 


1868. 


Jan. 


12 @12% 

11 @i2;| 


19 (§21 


13>^@16 


10 (§12 


11%@13 


Feb. 


18 @22 


16 (§18 


10 (§11M 


12 (§13 


Mar. 


18V,(@21 


17 @\?>]4 


11 @13 


12 @13>^ 


April 


13 (§14'^ 


1 }.;(«:16^ 


16io(ol8 


I3i„(a!i4>^ 


14^@15% 


May 


15!^(<«il6 


17 ([v.\9% 

13 @\iy^ 


16>2(§t7-J-i 


12 mXZYi 


i-y^&isii 


June 


uy.,®u% 


17 (a.\9 


12'.,(o'14i'2 


16?4@17»^ 


July 


17 ^(§18 


17 (§19 


11J4@20 


12 ^;14 


15H(§17 


Aug. 


17 


21 @24V^ 


18 (§2014 


12 c«;i5 


17 (§19 


Sept. 


18 (§1S>^ 


19 (§23 


195^ (§,21 14 


15 @16>^ 


16>^@lSi^ 


Oct. 


18 (o:20 


19'/^ (§23 


17>2@1.S54 


16 (§18 


17 @lSi| 


Nov. 


17>i@-^l 


20 (§23^ 


17 (g;19 


15 (§17 


17 m9 


Dec. 


18 ®21 


16>'a(§19^ 


12i^(§13 


11^@13 


16 @17 





1869. 


Jan. 


13 @16 


Feb. 


18 (oiWA 


Mar. 


19 @20'^ 


April 


18 @20 


Mav 


18 (§19 


June 


15 (a!l9i4 


July 


16Vc(§20 


Aug. 


17 @,19 


Sept. 


17 (§19 


Oct. 


17 (§19 


Nov. 


17 (§19 


Dec. 


17 





1870. 


1871. 


16 




10 (Oil 3 


14' 


i@Wi 


13V,(o;15 


14 


(a.U% 


14 (-il5V:', 


141 


.i(o),16 


13 (§14 


16' 


..(§17 


11^(§13 


16 


(§17 


10 (§12 


16' 




10 (ci>VA 


24 




12y„(o:133^' 


19 


(§21 


10 t'<-12'.^ 


19 


@20 


12 (§12' 


17 


(§19 


12 @12)^ 


19 


@20 


10 @11 



1872. 


1873. 


9 (§ 9% 
9 ® 9% 

Wi@ 94 

«'/2((a 9% 


9 (§10-^^ 
10 @\<i% 


11 @\2Y^ 


UK (§13 


9',^o;10l| 


iiy4(§i3 


9'4«U0!.^ 


11^(^12 


11 (oa3 


12H@13>4 


13 (§131^ 


13 


i3;^(5!i4 


13 (§14 


14 @143^ 


\Qy^®\\y, 
8^@ 9% 


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8';;(§ 9'-;', 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



97 



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Corn rose rapidly from January to October, in 1864 and as rapidly 
declined in 1865 and 1870. Cornmeal rose from January to October 
in '64 and '66, and fell from January to December, in '65. The meats 
took the same course as corn in 1S64, but their changes were more 
varied in the other years of the above table. 



98 INDIAN coax AND ITS CULTURE. 

The prices of gold during the years 1862-5, inclusive, had 
much influence on the prices of maize and hog products. 
At Cincinnati, on the 2d of January, 1862, the rise to 2 per 
cent, on gold is said to have "checked sales materially." 
On the I St of July it had advanced to 7|@8c. premium, 
buying; on 2d of October, to 20 buying; on 2d of January, 
1863, to 35 ; on April ist, it was 50 to 53; July ist, 43 to 
44; October 2, 40 to 42; January 4th, 1864, 50 to 51; 
April ist, 1864, 66 to 67; on July ist, 1864, 260 to 270 were 
the quotations. October ist gold was quoted at 190 buy- 
ing; April 3d, 1865, at 145 ; July 3d, at 138 to 139^. After 
July ist, 1864, when gold attained such an extraordinary 
height, the quotations above were not stated in the journals 
from which they are taken, as a premium, but as the price of 
gold. These prices were nearly the same throughout the 
States that had not seceded. Similar inflations of the cur- 
rency had occurred several times before in the history of the 
Republic. During the dark times of the Revolutionary 
War, when the credit of the United States was at its lowest, 
the enormous prices for coffee and sugar, in the Continental 
currency, are well known. Relief came when Congress 
took away the legal tender character of its paper and al- 
lowed it to pass for what it was worth. In 1837 there was a 
general crash, after several years of over-trading and ex- 
travagant expenditure. In 1857, in May, money was said 
to be plenty. Prices of corn, on June 13, were high at New 
York, ranging from 92 cts. to $1.00. Cornmeal sold from 
84.10 to ^4.50 per bbl.; mess pork from ^2365 to ^23.70. 
Corn declined somewhat in July and August, when an ex- 
pansion of railroad stocks was noted, and on the 29111 of the 
last month, there was said to be trouble in Wall Street, and 
many failures. A panic followed soon after, and about the 
13th of October the suspension of banks was said to be 
general. On the 17th of October corn was quoted at 67 to 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 99 

76 cts., and cornmeal $3.50 to $4. Mess pork held its 
own for a short time, as it does not generally keep up with 
the fluctuations of maize; but in falling from high prices, 
lags behind its neighbor product. The foreign imports be- 
came very small. The New York Chronicle, from which 
these quotations are taken, charged the New York banks 
with loaning ^120,000,000 against $10,000,000 of specie in 
their safes, and stated that the expansion of paper swelled 
the prices. Mess pork reached its lowest ($14-75) i^^ Decem- 
ber, at which time there was said to be a panic in Europe. 
In the meantime exporting had commenced with vigor, and 
brought back specie from Europe. This exportation had 
been made possible by the lowering of prices. Confidence 
was gradually restored, and stocks, in which the panic com- 
menced, became alive again, but in a more healthy trade. 
In January, 1859, there was another rush of speculative 
prices ; the American prices rising above those in Europe. 
On the 24th of February it was noticed that bread-stuffs 
were going West instead of East. Exports were diminished 
and importations largely increased. 

Wars, both at home and abroad, have had a great effect 
on the price of maize. Before the civil war, our merchants 
had invested very largely in shipping for the foreign trade. 
Their enterprise in this line about the commencement of the 
century, during the general European War, has already been 
referred to. Our commerce for a time rode on a great wave 
of prosperity; we were fast becoming the common carriers 
for the belligerent nations. The great powers soon took 
measures to humble us. The ill feeling towards Great 
Britain especially, in consequence of her insults, did not, 
however, prevent us from exporting so largely as to swell 
the prices of maize and other products, only a few months 
before the War of 1812 was declared. The very imminence 
of that war probably caused the owners of our shipping to 



100 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTDRE. 

work fast before the night came. But prices fell with the 
opening of the war. About the time of the Mexican War, 
there was an extraordinary exportation of Indian corn and 
cornmeal; the fertile West then being in a state of rapid 
development, and fair prices being maintained, yet admitting 
of competition with foreign producers. 

Tiie war of the allies against Austria would necessarily raise 
pi ices in Europe, and make it profitable to compete with her 
grain growers. The prices of maize and cornmeal especi- 
ally were maintained in New York after peace was restored. 
In November, 1859, the former rose to $1 per bushel, and 
the latter to ^4.50 per bbl. Examples might be multiplied 
indefinitely of the disturbing influences of war on prices-, 
r.ut the commerce of peace is much more favorable to the 
prosperity of a Republic, than that of war. The public 
mind is less liable to agitation ; it is less easy to get up a 
panic, the recourse of unprincipled speculators. And the 
commerce between nations at peace with others, is undoubt- 
edly safer, and in the end, more profitable. 

Freights, in so large a territory as that of the United 
States, have a most important bearing on prices. In the 
central portion of the State of Ohio, for instance, before 
canals and railroads made the way easy for the transport of 
produce, the country merchants frequently had their goods 
wagoned from the place of purchase. The carriers, like the 
arrieros of Spain, were generally honest men, but the trans- 
port was often tedious and expensive, and the exchange, 
directly or indirectly, of an article so bulky for its price, as 
Indian corn, was often out of the question. The Ohio and 
Mississippi rivers, however, being navigable when in a toler- 
able stage, gave ample opportunities for cheap transport, 
which were open to all ; although the danger of collision 
made them unsafe for small crafts heavily loaded, after 
steamboating on a large scale became general. The prices 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 101 

of freights on these rivers was fluctuating, just as it is now 
on tlie great lakes, depending on the season and stage of 
water, as well as on the amount of business. During the ear- 
lier years of Western progress, it was much more common 
than it is now, for farmers living on or near the banks of the 
Ohio, to combine and send down their produce in flat boats, 
for sale. A few examples of published freight prices may 
suffice to show what the common carriers could do to bring 
the supply and demand nearer together. In March, 1855, 
pound freight was carried from Cincinnati to Pittsburg for 20 
cts. per 100 lbs , and to St. Louis for 35 cts. On April 9th, 
freights to Wheeling were said to be 15 cts.; to Pittsburg, 
20 cts., and to New Orleans, 20 cts. In 1865, when 
prices of all kinds were high, on April 6th freight to the 
lower Mississippi declined on account of hig-li water, which 
enabled the largest class of boats to load to their utmost ca- 
pacity. To New Orleans, on pork the freight was $1.30, 
and on other heavy freight 45 cts. per 100 lbs. Pork was 
higher to Memphis, ($150 per bbl.) although other freight 
was 40 cts. per 100 lbs. It was stated that from Buffalo, 
in 1853, on June 7th, freight on the Erie Canal, &c. to 
New York, was 12 cts. per bushel; to Albany, 10 cts. On 
July 23d, the freight to New York rose to 13 cts. At this 
date the lake freight on corn, &c. from Cleveland to Buffalo 
and Dunkirk was 2^^ cts , to Oswego 5^ cts.; but on Octo- 
ber 1 2th, that to Buffalo and Dunkirk rose to 4 cts. On 18th 
of November corn Avas taken to New York City for 18 cts., 
and wheat from thence to Europe for 25 to 30 cts. - 

Cornmeal is generally quoted in the Eastern cities, in the 
leading journals. The price is more constant than that of 
corn. In 1842 it was, for the latter half year, between 
$2.8-j}4 and $3.12}^ per bbl., at New York; corn ranging 
between 48 and 60 cts. and mess pork (by the bbl.) from 
^7 50 to $9.50. In the third quarter of the same year, corn 



102 



INDIAN CORN AND 1X3 CULTURE. 



at St. Louis was i8 and 20 cts., and mess pork $4.75. In 
February, 1843, corn at Cincinnati was 16 cts. per bushel, 
and mess pork $6.62 per bbl.; in November, corn was 18 to 
20 cts. Near the beginnings of January, April, July and 
October, 1843, corn ranged, in New York, between 48 and 
58 cts , and mess pork between C-8 and ^10/^. Corn was 
rather lower next year, and mess pork higher; New Orleans 
quarterly prices being about one-fifth lower still. In 1845, 
August 28th, corn was 62 cts. at Boston, 57 at New York, 
and on 30th, 43 cts. at Cleveland; and on September 4th, 
35 to 37 cents at Cincinnati, where mess pork was §13.50 
to S14. 

On September 2d, from Cincinnati to the mouth of the 
Ohio, by boats, freight was $1 per bbl. for pork, and 50 cts. 
per 100 lbs. for pound freiglits. Also, 50 cts. to St. Louis, and 
from the mouth of the Ohio to New Orleans, 25 cts., being 
about 14 cents on a bushel of corn. In 1849 (early in Jan- 
uary) corn was 30 to 32 at New Orleans, and 45 to 50 at 
Baltimore, and early in April 23 to 24 at the former, and 46 
to 50 at the latter place. In 1S50 corn gained from 30 to 91 
per cent, in New Orleans, over 1849. In 1853, early in 
April, July and October, corn v/as respectively 52 to 54 cts., 
50 cts., and 60 to 65 cts at Cleveland ; and 62)2 to 65, 57)3 
to 6g}4, and 84 to 89 at New York. On 9th of April, 1855, 
the freights from Cincinnati to New Orleans were said to be 
20 cts. per 100 lbs., or eleven and one fifth cts. per bushel 
of corn. 

Quotations early in April (I) and July (II) in 1855, from 
Cincinnati Columbian, &c. for corn (per bush.) and mess 
pork (per bbl.) were, for 



NEW ORLEANS. 


CINCINNATI. 


NEW YORK. 


Corn. 


Mess Pork. 


Corn. 


Mess Pork. 


Cora. 


-Moss Po 1-. 


I — 9.3 c. 
11— 8.5@95c. 


$15 00 


C5(§70a. 
70@7.')(\ 


$14 .50 
18 00@18 50 


81 00@1 10 
8,S@ 92 


$15 50@1;) Hi. 

19 ».^@i9 r.a 





INDIAN COa\ AND IT3 CULTURE. 



103 



Not long before this the allies and Russians had been 
fighting before Sebastopol, and a conference was in progress 
looking towards peace. 

Prices early in January, April, July and October for 1S64, 
for a bushel of maize, and barrel of mess pork, ranging as 
follows, were quoted in Cincinnati daily papers of the 
respective times. ' 



sr. LOUIS. 



Mnize. 



I - 

II-8 92@1 07 
ni-1 30@1 36 
IV- 



Mess Pork. 



»'22 50 



CHICAGO. 

__Maize. I Mes s Pork . 

f 81® 92 bl7"75@18 25 

83@ S9%\ 

1 28@1 3:J S40 00 

1 23@1 24 I 



CINCINNATI. 



Maize. i Mess Pori. . 



S 90@1 08 

95@1 07 

1 00@1 10 

1 20@1 25 



518 75@22 00 
22 00@22 50 
40 00@44 25 
40 00@42 00 



XXXI. 

Quarterly prices in the following cities, selected from the 
monthly prices in the U. S. Agricultural Reports (intended 
to show the state of the market at the opening of the 
months) for the following years. The quarters begin re- 
spectively with January (I), April (II), July (III), and 
October (IV). 



Maize. 
bush. cts. 



.=2 f I 

g J n 

-^ i III 

& Uv..... 

ir 



I. 
II.. 

III.. 

IV.., 

I . 

II.., 
III.. 

IV.. 



@73 
@78 
@10S 
@100 



76 
62 

64J4@66 
68 @74 
70 @77>^ 
65 @66 



©73 
@9l 



Mess Porii, 
per bbl . ?. 



00@32 
50(c^31 
50@34 
50@32 
00@25 
90@26 
75@28 



50(0(29 
50 

50@32 
25@31 



JMaize. 
busli. ots 



Mess Pork, 
per bbl. 8. 



75 83 
50 66 



@85 
@87 
@97 
@69 



@,84 |28 
@63Hi25 

|27 

26 

@S5 29 
@67 |24 



50 

00@27 

00 ((^30 

50@25 

50@27 

75@26 

00@29 

00 

50 

50@27 

75@30 

50@24 



Maize, 
bush. ets. 



44 

25 50 

50 



50 51 
45 



@47 

@61 
6 @52 
3 @5334 
li4@53H 

@47,!4 
@54 



@.59 
@54 



Mess PorK. 
per bbl. 8 



19 00@19 50 

20 00@20 50 
13 50Cu;16 00 
13 00@13 25 

18 00@18 25 

20 15@20 50 
15 00@15 25 
13 00@13 I2}i 

19 00 

21 00 

i 5 00@15 25 
12 50@13 00 



St. Louis corn above quoted in 1869, was mixed, and 
white in sacks; in 1870 was white, yellow and mixed, all in 
sacks; in 1871, was mixed and yellow. Chicago quotations 
of corn for 1869 of No. i, and 1870 No. 2, and for 1871 



104 



INDIAN CORN AND IT3 CULTURE. 



included another kind. Cincinnati corn No. i, for 1S69; 
Nos. I and 2 for 1870, and No. i and new ear for 187 1. 

Quarterly prices in 1871, selected from the monthly prices 
in U. S. Agricultural Report, and intended to show the state 
of the market at the opening of January, April, July and 
October, in the following cities : (corn, cts. per bushel ; 
pork, dollars per barrel). 



BOSTON. 


NEW ORLEANS. 


SAN FRANCISCO. 


Corn. 


Mess Pork. 


Corn. 


Mess Pork. 


Corn. 1 Mess Pork. 


I— 82@86c. 
II— SGa^Olc. 

HI— 79@82c. 
lV-84@88c. 


$20 50@21 50 
21 50@22 00 
16 00@16 50 
14 50@14 75 


69 @70c. 
65 (0(700. 

70 @75c. 
82>^@85c. 


S21 00 (5)21 50 
21 00 (0(23 00 
10 V2%@i6 75 
14 25 @15 00 


tl 50@1 60 S24 00@26 00 

1 60(ii;l 70 25 00(g!29 00 

2 00(g2 25 25 00(a/27 00 
2 35 20 00(5124 00 



The kinds here quoted are yellow, white and mixed. 
The following quotations for January 30, 1875, were taken 
from newspapers on file in the Public Library of Cincinnati. 



Boston 

New York 

Philadelphia.. 

Albany 

Providence...., 

Detroit 

Llontreal 

Cleveland 

Indianapolis . 

• hieago 

Milwaukee.... 

St. Paul 

I)es Moines ... 
Leavenworth. 



Corn, 
bush, cts 



85^^ 
83 @Ri)4 
77 («(78 
83 (0(85 
92 (oJlOS 
67 



68 (a.70 

60 C'(,65 

61 (am<i 
00 @ti034 
65 (0(70 
43 (g46 
60 @65 



Mess Pork, 
perbbl. $. 



21 00@21 
new, 19 

19 00(g20 00 

22 00 

20 00(<?22 00 
19 00(tijl9 50 
22 00(5(23 00 



18 50@19 33 
18 20(a),18 25 
IS 00@21 00 



20 00 



Pittsburg 57 @78 

Cincinnati 67 £(68 

Louisville- G534(a>70 

Nashville 72)^(0,85 

St. Louis 60 ^64^2 

do in sacks 64 @72 

Memphis 83>^@85 

New Orleans |85 

Mobile |95 @\ OS 

Gal veston , Texas 80 (oil 05 
Jacksonville.Fla.jl 20(a!l 30 

Atiajita, Ga 

Wilmington, N. CI 20(^1 25 
Richmond, Va....i76 



Corn. Mess Pork, 
bush. cts. ner bbl. S. 



1 00 
19 00 
19 50 



18 00(§jl8 75 



21 00@21 50 

20 00 

20 00@21 00 



19 621/^ 

20 00 

19 00@19 50 



San Francisco, (January 29th) Lard, per lb 15 to V7% cts. 

Cornmeal is quoted, January 30th, 1875, at Detroit, 827 to 
S30 per ton ; at New Orleans, $4 per bbl.; at Memphis, 
$3.85 to S4. 10 perbbl.; at Nashville, 85 to 90 cts. per bushel; 
at Richmond, Va., 85 ; at Wilmington, N. C, Si. 25 to §1.30;. 
at Leavenworth, Kansas, $1.80 per 100 lbs., and Louisville 
at Si. 55 to Si. 65 per same; at Portland, Oregon, 4 to 5 cts. 
per lb.; at Galveston, S5 to $5-25 per bbl, and at Jackson- 
ville, Florida, S5 to S6.50 per bbl. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



105 



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106 INDIAN COKN AND ITS CULTURE. 

At Liverpool, England, on January 30th, 1875, Indian 
corn was quoted at 36s to 39s per quarter {480 lbs), and pork 
at 82s. Freights on same date, on corn from Detroit to Al- 
bany, 25 cts.; to New York and Philadelphia, 30 cts , and 
to Boston and Portland, 35 cts. From Milwaukee, same 
date, freights to Liverpool, 92^ cts.; to Cincinnati, all rail, 
30 cts.; to Cleveland, all rail 22^ cts.; to New York, all 
rail, 40 cts., and to Philadelphia and Baltimore 35 cts. 

The discussion of the principles which lie back of maize 
prices, in connection with a wider range of facts, will be less 
difficult, when the varieties, uses and modes of culture of 
this grain have been considered. 

The supply depends on the fertility of the ground planted, 
whether natural, or artificially produced; on the number of 
acres; the conditions of the season, as, favorable or other- 
wise for planting, after cultivation, ripening and harvesting; 
on the force used, by hand or machinery, and its timely ap- 
plication; on the skillfulness of the general farm management; 
on the care taken and the efficiency of the means used for 
the preservation of the crop; and on the absence of disturb- 
ing and destructive forces during cultivation; and on other 
conditions. 

The demand depends on the facilities for cheap and rapid 
transportation; on the numbers, habits and tastes of the popu- 
lation among whom it is distributed, and the increase of 
that population, by immigration or otherwise; on the diver- 
sity of uses, old and new, to which the product is applied; on 
the abundance or shortness of this or other crops, at home or 
in foreign lands; on the variety of industries and their changes, 
the widening fields of labor, and especially on successful 
movements in new and great enterprises. The demand is also 
seriously affected by political movements, panics, impending 
dangers, and excessive speculation, developing "corners" 
and other similar attempts to grasp extraordinary profits. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 107 

In looking back to the early years of the Republic, we see 
how rapidly the cause of the industries has made its way to 
prominence in the great channels that bring the old and new 
to the eyes of the masses ; how the leading journals, which 
were once filled with matters of war and politics, are now so 
largely devoted to the interests of private workers, organized 
or independent. And here is the hope of our country; for. 
although Avar is still enthroned, peace is the power behind it. i 
It was contempt for the private industries, and the filling up 
of the capital with the spoils of war, that ate out t'le heart 
of Roman freedom. The Roman Republic gained the world, 
and lost its souL 

EXPORTS OF MAIZE AND SWINE PRODUCTS. 

In the early times of the West, it was not uncommon for 
the hill farmer, who lived ten or twelve miles from town, not 
only to provide sustenance for his family off of the farm, but 
with their co operation, to manufacture their clothing, and 
put up the buildings. Hence the hatchelling machine, the 
spinning wheel, and the loom — and sometimes the carpen- 
ter's bench — were nearly as important at the homestead as 
the plow or wagon. For the making or mending of these 
he could pay in trade ; and for most of his other implements, 
if he only found the iron and steel. He could, being his 
own but( her, supply the tanner with the raw material for the 
leather, which, in the hands of the saddler, harness and shoe- 
maker, who needed his flour and meat, became trappings for 
the horses, and clothing for the little feet, when they did not 
go bare. Other arrangements in the way of trade made die 
circulating medium a very small part of his financial affairs. 
Still he had his taxes to pay, and sometime his iron and nails, 
his buttons, queensware, and knives and forks to buy; and 
his dear ones were generally fond of tea and coffee, which 



108 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

could not always be obtained in exchange for butter and 
eggs. Then there was the remainder of the debt for the 
farm, or the land out of which it was made, which was gen- 
erally paid in cash. 

Now, that noted farmer, U. S. (who, for a considerable 
length of time, went under a nick name with these initials) 
when he became of age and assumed his freedom, was placed 

• in such circumstances, with reference to his neighbors across 
the water, that he did not see fit to follow out this programme 
exactly. He became a trader, and was a very bold and 
skillful one ; and though the main part of his capital was real 
estate, yet such was the extent of the business he acquired, 
that the want of floating capital was not immediately felt. 
He had considerable farm stuff to dispose of, and among the 
rest, Indian corn, pork, bacon and lard, packed by himself; 
he shipped them to islands and coasts where they were most 
wanted, and exchanged for foreign produce and manufac- 
tures. Part of these he carried round and sold to neighbors too 
intent on a great quarrel to do this carrying with advantage 
for themselves. The business for a time was a great success; 
but the quarrel growing hot, measures were taken to starve 
each other out, by stopping the operations of the common 
carrier. This bore hard on the sale of farm products, as 
well as on the trading business, and in time involved the 
operator in the quarrel, and it cost him a heavy sum to get 
out of it. 

t It was soon found necessary to fall back somewhat into the 
line of the Western farmer, who manufactured his own lin- 
sey and tow linen, and made his own axe handles. 

This brief narrative is illustrated by the following state- 
ment of U. S. exports of Indian corn, and swine products, 
since the birth of the nation which has now acquired the 
title of the "Great Republic." Previous to 1790, and after 
the declaration of independence, the exports of a few lead- 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



100 



ing cities are given (in U. S. P. O., 1853): from Portsmouth, 
N. H. 2.510 bushels in 1776 ; 1,915 bushels in 1777 ; 5,306 
in 1778; 3,097 in 1779; 6,711 in 1780; and 5,587 in 1781. 
The following table of Domestic Exports of the United 
Ftates is made up of extracts from U. S. Documents, and 
Seybert's Statistical Annals, (published in 1818) commencing 
on the ist of October, 1789, and ending on September 30th, 
1S20. 

XXXIII. 



Year 


Cora. 


Corumeal 


bushels. 


bushels. 


1790 


2,102,137 
1 713.241 




17!U 


351,695 


17'.)2 


I 9r>4,973 


263,405 


179 J 


1,233,768 


189,715 


1794 


1.472.700 


241,570 


179.-) 


1,935,345 


512.445 


I79tj 


1,173,552 


540 286 


1797 


804,922 


254,799 


179S 


1,218.23). 


211,694 


1799 


1,200,492 


231,226 


ISOO 


1.6!)4,327 


338,108 


1801 


1,768, 1C2 


919,355 


1802 


1,633,283 


266,816 


1803 


2.097,608 


133,606 


1804 


1,944 873 


111,327 


1805 


S6 1.501 


116,131 


isoi; 


1,064,263 


108,342 


1807 


612,421 


136,460 


7808 


249,532 


30,818 


1809 


522.074 


57.260 


1810 


325,924 


86,744 


1811 


2.790.850 


147,426 


1812 


2.039,999 


90,810 


1813 


1,486,970 


58,521 


1814 


61 284 


26,438 


1815 


830,516 


72 364 


J.816 


1,077,614 


89.119 


1817 


387,454 


106,763 


1818 


1,079.190 


120,021 


1819 


1,086,762 


135,271 


1820 


533,741 


146,318 



Haiii.s & 
Bacon. 
pounds 



2oo,oao 

295 647 

585,353 

521,483 

995,593 

1,778.. 564 

2,096,177 

1,081,008 

l,ia5 584 

1,412,005 

1,173,244 

2.031,630 

1,588,267 

1,686,546 

1,904.284 

903,924 

1,347,018 

1,311.246 

258,418 

1,082,610 

1,218,855 

1,286,809 

7'29,398 

607,196 

138.556 

695,3.57 

5.30,129 

341,419 



Lard, 
pounds. 



fi.355 

522.715 

515,245 

597 297 

1,028,410 

1,490 ,554 

1,124,971 

731 511 

876.773 

1,451,6.57 

1,633,562 

2 376,500 

1.958,400 

2,0.52,302 

2,.515,719 

1,308,287 

1,. 542,500 

1,815,998 

585,173 

1,371,089 

1,.365,3.33 

1,927,451 

1,616,417 

1,084 565 

513 928 

1,045.633 

1,088,318 

926,018 



Pork, 
barrels. 



24,462 
26,635 
38,098 

38 563 
47,242 
88,193 
73,881 
40,125 
33,115 
52,268 
55.467 
70,779 
78 239 
96,602 

111.532 
57,925 
36,277 

39 274 
15,478 
46,652 
.37,209 
37,270 
22,746 
17.337 

4.040 

9,073 

19 280 

14,462 



Hogs. 
No. 



5,.304 

16,803 

21,291 

9,934 

5,413 

4,922 

6.753 

3,484 

4,237 

8,786 

14,294 

7,312 

6.501 

6,859 

5 599 

2,808 

1,747 

1,831 

1.9.56 

537 

4,613 

4,454 

2 380 

485 

160 

757 

1,988 

1,103 



Value of 

Hogs, I'oik, 

(to. 



$ 212..308 
381 910 
■ Kentucky 
a State. 



f Tennessee 

(admitted. 

( French iu- 

i suits. 

I French 

1 treaty. 

j Ohio a 

t State. 

1,800,000 

1,990 000 

1,190,000 

1.096,000 

1,157,000 

398 000 

1,001,000 

907,000 

1,002,000 

604.000 

457,000 

176,000 

498,000 

719.000 

537,000 

754000 

1,009 000 

1,179,000 



The first number in the lard column is in firkins, the re^^t 
pounds. Mr. Seybert's figures in the column for corn, for the 
years 1794, 1803^ 1807, 1809, and in the cornmeal column 
for 18 13 and 1815, differ somewhat from those derived from 
other sources; also, very slightly in a few other cases. When 
they differ, his is preferred, except in the quotations for corn- 
meal, in the year 1 791-5 inclusive, which he gives in barrels, 



110 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

as follows: 70,339; 52,681 ; 37,943; 48,834, and 102,529. 
These multiplied by 5 (the old Southern number of bushels 
for a barrel) will produce the first three figures in the corn- 
meal column exactly, the next two nearly. The rest of his 
figures for cornmeal, which extend to 181 7, are given in bush- 
els. The quantities of hams and bacon, lard, pork and hogs 
are his. A retrospect of U. S. imports and exports from 
1790 to 1838, containing many interesting particulars, but 
not the above, (except the values of hogs, pork, &c. in the 
last column) will be found in the documents annexed to a 
Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the state of the 
finances, dated December 3d, 1839. It is there stated, that 
"not till 1803 were exports regularly distinguished in the 
returns, as to the quantity and value of the different articles." 
The total exports from the United States in 1790 were 
over $20,000,000, and gradually increased from 1791, to 
$78,665,522 in 1799; after which they fluctuated, but rose 
to §108,343,150 in 1807, the year of the Embargo, which 
shut out the nations injuring our commerce, from the advan- 
tages of our trade. In 1808 the total exports were less than 
?22, 500,000. In 1814, the third year of our war with the 
British, the whole exports were less than 87,000.000. "The 
largest exports from most of the Northern States, formerly 
consisted of foreign goods, lumber, fish, &c." 

The total imports in 1790 were $23,000,000, and rose to 
$138,500,000 in 1807 ; the next year falling off to less than 
$57,000,000, and in i8i4to less than $13,000,000; but after 
])eace, in 1815, they rose to ^113,041,274, and in 1S16 to 
^147,103,000 — nearly double our exports of that year. 

These changes are observable on a miniature scale in the 
above table. The first material falling off in the maize ex- 
port was in 1796-7, during the French unpleasantness. It 
recovered, and went on swimmingly till 1805—6. The 
counter decrees of Napoleon and Great Britain, to break 



IK'DIAX CORN AXD ITS CULTURE. Ill 

down the trade of neutrals with the adverse power, reduced 
the corn export more than one-half, and still more in 1807, 
and subsequent years till 181 1, when it was greatly swelled ; 
but it became a very small item in 1814. The scarcity in 
the fall of 1816 reduced it, after its partial recovery when 
the war was over, to a low figure in 181 7. Measures had 
been taken to protect the manufacture of cotton goods in 
Rhode Island and elsewhere, which had greatly flourished 
during the war, from the heavy English importations after iis 
close. A home market was provided for corn and swine 
products, which partly accounts for the falling off of maize 
exports subsequent to 181 9, which, in spite of greatly in- 
creased production, did not again reach one million bushels 
till 1846. The corn meal export was seldom large, but more 
uniform, the places of destination being nearer home. The 
export of pork went on increasing, and that of lard more 
rapidly and uniformly, as will be seen from the subsequent 
table. 

A few facts in regard to the tonnage of the United States 
may be of interest here. Its total in 1789 was 201,562, 
• which includes registered and enrolled sail tonnage. Of this 
amount, over 9,000 were in the cod fisheries; more than 
68,000 in the coastwise, and nearly 124,000 in the foreign 
trade. The latter increased to nearly a million in 1810; the 
others less rapidly. In the four years ending with 1814, the 
foreign tonnage had lost nearly a third, and the coastwise 
gained more than a seventh ; the fisheries losing more than 
half. The foreign gained more than one- fourth in 181 5 ; the 
coastwise a small fraction; the fisheries tonnage more than 
doubled. By 1819 the foreign tonnage had lost nearly a 
third, the coastwise gained one-fifth, and the fisheries (cod 
and whale) were nearly trebled. The coastwise was now 
only about 10,000 tons behind the foreign tonnage, and each 
of them amounted to nearly 600,000. _ 



112 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

The domestic exports of 1819, in all, were nearly $23 000,- 
000 less than those of 18 18, and the imports for same, not 
exported again, were about $34,364 000 less than those of 
previous year. The values of these exports are stated to 
have been estimated "agreeably to the prices current, re- 
turned by collectors of the customs in their quarterly abstracts 
of exports for each year." But regular reports of the value 
and quantity of each article imported did not commence till 
1 82 1. The balance of trade had been very heavily against 
the United States in 1815 and 1816, but our industries, en- 
couraged as they now were, gained rapidly, and this balance 
against us was fast diminishing. Very considerable exporta- 
tions of foreign goods had been made. In 1820 we retained, 
for consumption, of our imports only $56,441,971, and our 
entire domestic exports for that year were $51,683,640. In 
182 1 the balance was in our favor. 

This was during Monroe's administration, which was emi- 
nently a peaceful and prosperous one. By the discoveries 
and explorations of Grey, Lewis and Clark, our claim to the 
Pacific ocean was made clear. In 1817 the Wyandots and 
six other tribes of Indians ceded all lands to which they had 
title in the State of Ohio. Mississippi was admitted as a 
State. Canals connecting Lakes Erie and Champlain with 
the Hudson river were in progress, and were finished in 1823. 
In 1818 the Chickasaws ceded all their lands west of the 
Tennessee river, in Kentucky and Tennessee. Alabama 
was admitted in 1819, and Spain in the same year, by treaty, 
ceded both of the Floridas to the United States. The Mis- 
souri question came up in 1820, as to the extension of slavery, 
and that State was admitted in 1821, with a prohibition of 
that institution in the territories north of 36° 30'. 

It is observable that the export of maize, which had been 
so small daring the war with Britain, and recovered some- 
what after its close, dwindled one-half in 1820. The value 



tn b. 



2S5 



c£ a. 



INDIAN CORN AKD ITS CtJLTURE, 
XXXIV. 



118 



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lU 



114 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

of the export of swine products, however, increased steadily 
from 1817 to 1822. About this time some sister repub- 
lics were coming into existence. In 1823 our government 
acknowledged the independence of Mexico, Buenos Ayres, 
Colombia and Chili. 

In a general statement of U. S. tonnage, extending from 
1789 to 1871, found in Reports on Commerce and Naviga- 
tion for 1 87 1-2, the figures for steam tonnage begin in 1823 
with 24,879 tons, enrolled and licensed. This amount, in 
1830, had increased to 63,053, when the registered steam 
tonnage began with 1419. In 1831 the coastwise tonnage 
exceeded the foreign slightly. There had been a great fall- 
ing off in both from 1828 to 1829, though the fisheries tonnage 
had increased nearly one seventh. Whether this resulted 
from the new tariff on wool, woolens, iron and cottons, &c. 
which caused so much opposition at the South, or from 
•European wars, in which Russia and Turkey, and the new 
Republic of Greece were prominent parties, does not appear. 
The total imports fell off nearly one-sixth ; foreign exports, 
one-fourth. The exports of corn, pork and lard were dimin- 
ished from one-half to one-seventh, in 1830, from those of 
1829, but those of cotton were increased. After South 
Carolina's nullification ordinance in 1832, and Mr. Clay's 
compromise in 1833, there was a heavy increase in the cotton 
export. The corn and pork export became very small in 
1836, the year before the financial crisis. 

There was an extraordinary movement in Indian corn in 
1846-7, during the famine in Ireland, when the United 
States Government sent a ship load of provisions, gratui- 
tously, to the sufferers, and private individuals added largely 
to the public bounty. There was a radical movement in 
Germany in 1848, which was felt in other portions of Europe. 
The export of cornmeal has been far less fluctuating than that 
of Indian corn, because the market has been nearer home 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTUKK. 115 

and less likely to be disturbed by outside influences. Gold 
was discovered in California in 1848, and very soon the rush 
to its diggings provided an abundant home market, now that 
this region had become the property of the United States. 
The rapid settlement of new States and Territories also pro- 
duced a demand for this grain. The Indians became troub- 
lesome in the West, and so reduced the crops of maize. The 
agitation of the slavery question would naturally diminish the 
grain trade between the North and South; but would stimu- 
late the production of cotton; and its exports in 1851, when 
those of corn dwindled one-half, rose to $112,000,000, but 
fell next year to $87,000,000; yet its wave gradually went up 
till it reached $191,000,000 in i860, and then suddenly fell 
to $34,000,000. 

The total tonnage of the United States reached its high- 
est figures in 1861, being 5,539,813, of which 2,496,894 was 
foreign, and 2,704,724 was coastwise; 145,734 tons being 
in the whale fishery, 137,666 in the cod, and 54,795 in the 
mackerel fisheries. The next year the total fell off more 
than 400,000 tons ; 117,756 being sold to foreigners. The 
coastwise in 1863 had grown to 2,960,633, and the foreign 
declmed to 1.926,886; foreigners having purchased 222,199. 
In 1864 the foreign tonnage was still further reduced by the 
sale of 300,865, and in 1865 of 133,832 tons ; and by smaller 
sales in subsequent years. In 1873 the coastwise tonnage 
was 3,163.220, the foreign 1.378,533; the cod fishery 109,- 
519, and the whale fishery 44,755. 

The reciprocity treaty with Canada opened up a new 
market for maize, the exports of which, in 1854. were nearly 
triple those of 1853, and were greatly enlarged in '56, when 
the Kansas slavery question produced a rush of emigration 
thither, and a temporary civil war, but they fell rapidly in 
1857, and did not recover till the first year of the great civil 
war. After a heavy export in 1862, it was reduced by the 



116 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



ravages of the Alabama and other cruisers to less than 3,oco,- 
ooo bushels in 1865. Its lowest since that was in 1870. Of 
late years its growth has been very rapid, especially to Great 
Britain, where its usefulness as feed for horses has been 
greatly extended. 

In 1854 the number of hogs exported was 279; barrels of 
pork 220,147 ; hams and bacon, 45,953,473 pounds; pounds 
of lard, 44,450,154. The whole estimated value of these four 
products being $11,061,016. In 1855 the hogs exported 
were 431; hams and bacon, 38,188,989 pounds; lard, 39,- 
025.492 pounds; total value $11,607,165. In 1858 the value 
of hogs exported was 8810,406; of pickled pork, $2,852,942 ; 
of hams and bacon, $1,957,423; and of lard, 83,809,5501. 

In 1859 the value of hogs exported, $550,875 ; of pickled 
pork, §3, 355, 746; of hams and bacon, $1,263,042, and of 
lard, $3,268,406. 

XXXV. 

The following is made out from figures taken from U. S. 
P. O. Reports, showing the exports of Indian corn and corn- 
meal, with their respective values, for the following years : 



Years. 


Corn. 


Corn meal. 


Total Value 


Bushels. 


Value. 


Barrels. 


Valup. 


1854 


7,708.816 


56,074,277 


257,403 


51.002,976 


87,077.253 


1855 


7.807,585 


6, 961,, 571 


267,208 


1,237,122 


8.198.093 


18 6 


10,292.280 


7,622,505 


293.607 


1,175 688 


8,798,253 


1857 


7,505,318 


5,184.606 


267,504 


957 791 


6 142 457 


1858 


4,706,115 


3,259,039 


237,037 


877.092 


4 130.731 


1859 


1,719,998 


1.323,103 


258,885 


994.2(,9 


2 317 372 


18G0 


3 314,155 


2,399,808 


233.709 


912.075 


3,311 883 


18GI 


10,078,244 


6,890,805 


203,313 


092003 


7,582 868 



Before 1850, pork packing, as an art, had reached a high 
degree of improvement. Cincinnati, being the centre of a 
great corn and swine producing region, attained and held the 
pre-eminence in this line, for a considerable length of time. 
Louisville, its near neighbor, also had large packing estab- 
lishments. Gradually the business sprang up, on a smaller 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTUKE, 



117 



scale, in many small places scattered throughout the West ; 
and Chicago, after distinguishing herself in a remarkable 
degree as a transporter of grain, took hold of the packing 
business with great vigor, and eventually made, in some 
cases, the greatest showing in the number of swine killed. 
We do not hear so much in this line, from St. Louis, whose 
receipts and exports are more varied, though very extensive; 
or from Pittsburg, a great coal and iron mart, or from the 
rapidly growing cities on the Lakes. Our leading exports of 
produce have been fast obtaining character throughout the 
world. Some such manufactures of corn as Maizena, have 
been shipped to the farthest islands. In 1864 the value of 
this export was $51,118, and in 1865, $162,801 ; and in 
'73, $424,552, of which England took $146,399; British 
Colombia, $8,427; Australasia, $41,254; British Africa, 
$9,370, and Japan, $2,643. 

xxxvi. 

Exports of Produce of United States to foreign countries, 
selected from the Reports of Commerce and Navigation, and 
Monthly Report for May and June, of Agricultural Depart- 
ment for 1876. 



Yrs. 


Corn. 1 


Bushels. 
18,904,909 


Value 


1862 


S10.3S7,383 


rsti3 


16,119.476, 10 592,704 | 


1864 


4,096 091 


3 353.280 


1805 


2.812,726 


3,679.183 


ISttfi 


18 516, 0.')! 


11 070,895 


18t>7 


14 889,828 


14,871 092 


18(;8 


11,147.490; 13 094 0861 


18f.9 


7 047.197 


6,820 719 


1870 


1 892,115 


1 2S7..575 


1871 


9 826.809 


7.4.58 997 


1872 


84.491.650 


23 9.S4,365 


187:5 


8H..541.9::0i 23.794 694 1 


1S74 


34,484.606! 24,769.951 | 


1873 


28,858.420 


24,456 937 1 



("lornmo.il. 



Barrels | Value. 



253, 
257 
262, 
199, 
237, 
284, 
336. 
309 
187. 
211. 
308 
403. 
M..551, 
^^,166, 



570$ 
9481, 
357 1 
4191 

2T51, 

2811 

50.S2 

,S67il, 

098| 

811 

840'l, 

111 1. 

228il 

6l6|i; 



78,344 



Hogs. 



No. 

3.306 
9,467 
9.199 
1400 
951 
3 577 
1399 

l'2"6.58 

8 770 

.56.110 

99,720 



Total Val-iTot'lValiie 
ue of Com I orn & Hog 
Value, and Meal. Produ' t 



$ 28 562 
96,373 
86 907 
12.771 
15 4.54 
40,092 
18,44' 

i 89 753 

61.390 

548,1.53 

787,40: 



poO miU'ns 



$100 mill's 



'. to H inch.' to % inch. 



Uushel.s. 



118 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CVLTU&E. 
XXXVII. 



EXPORTS OF SWINE PRODUCTS OF U. S., SELECTED FROM RE- 
PORTS ON COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION. 



Yrs. 



1802 
1803 
1804 
1805 
1800 
1807 
1868 
1809 
1870 
1871 
1872 
1873 



Hams and Bacon. 



308,051 



t 326,119 4,334,775 i218,243, 009 



317,597 



t64,147,461 



Value. Pounds. 



« 3,980.1.551141,212,780 



5,828,030 



208,132 6,813,135 
130,056,788 4,788,484 
3,597,090 
t2S,090,133| 3,267,652 
3.422,928 
3,253,137 



124,439,8:32 

1 24. 639,831 

139 250,750 4.302,320 

1 57,109.518 4,122, "" 



5,007,035 



110,886,446 

45,990,71 

37,568,930 



43,a59,064 
49,228,165 
38,%8,256 
71,446,854 



395,381,737 



Value 



$ 10 290,572 

18,658,280 

12,223,327 

10.521,702 

0.269,796 

3 291,176 

5,476,998 

7,482 060 

6,123,113 

8.126,683 



246,208,143 21.120,59i: 



35,022, 13' 



Lard. 



Pounds. Value. 



118,573,307 $ 10 004,521 



155.336,: 96 
97190,765 
44,342,295 
30,110,451 



64,555,462 
41,887,545 
35,808.530 
80,037,297 
199,651.660 
230,534,207 



15,755 570 

11,260 7-28 

t>, 107.435 

5,970,651 

6,634 556 

9.427,831 

7,443,<M8 

5,933 397 

10 563 020 

20,177,019 

21,245,815 



Lard Oil. 



Value, j 

$ 148,0.56 ' 
983,349 
377,994 
155,454 
70,300 
176.303 
330 179 

"124,866 
153 850 
432.483 
298,731 



<■ Barrels. % Barrels aud tierces— add 1,155. t Pounds. 

The distribution of the exports, considered for the long- 
est term of years, will show us who are the nation's best 
customers. From the very beginning of its commercial 
records, with a few exceptions, Great Britain and her depend- 
encies (a) have taken the largest amounts, in value, of its 
exports. In 17 90 they took $9,246,562, in all. France and 
dependencies, (/^) about half that sum; Spain and depend- 
encies, (c) nearly two-ninths of same; Netherlands and 
dependencies, (d) a little less than Spain ; Portugal and 
dependencies, (e) nearly one-seventh of Britain's. The 
Hanse Towns, (/) not quite half a million ; Denmark and 
dependencies, (g) one quarter of a million ; Sweden and 
dependencies, (//) the lowest, $47,240. In 1800 a took (in 
millions) about tvventy-seven and one-third ; ^, five and one- 
sixth; <r, fifteen and two-thirds; d, five and two-thirds ; ^, one 
and one-fourth ; /, eight; g, two and one-eighth; and /i, three- 
fifths. In 1810 a took sixteen and one-half; if, one-seventh; 
c, nearly fifteen ; d, one-sixth ; e, seven and two-thirds; /, one 
and one-eighth ; g, ten and one-half; and A, seven and nine- 
tenths. In 1820 a took nearly twenty-nine ; ^, nine and one- 
ninth; c, six and six-sevenths ; d, seven and two-thirds; e, one 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 119 

and one-third ; /, two and three-fifths ; g, nearly two and one- 
half; and /i, nearly two-thirds. By this time Russia, that in 
1810 had taken $3,975,698, now took over one-third of that 
sum, and China, ^1,479,701. In 1821 Brazil was numbered 
among our customers to the amount of $1,381,760. After 
1825 the South American States generally, were reckoned in. 
By this time the annual Reports on Commerce and Navi- 
gation of the United States made exhibits in detail of the 
distribution of the principal articles exported, with their 
values. In the year ending September 30th, 1827, (see table 
of exports) England took, of the Indian corn export, 562,603 
bushels — more than half; the French West Indies the next 
largest quantity, 79,288 bushels ; the British American Colo- 
nies the next, and Madeira Islands the next, 65,311 bushels. 
The West Indies took, in all, 248,746 bushels; Scotland 
none, and Ireland in that year only 8,200 bushels. Of the 
small cornmeal export, the West Indies together took about 
107,000 barrels — four fifths. Of this, the Danish West 
Indies took 65.160 barrels, and Swedish, 14,057, The 
British American Colonies took 18,640 barrels; England 
only 405. Of hog products exported the same year, Cuba 
(one of the Spanish dependencies) the largest by far, $736,- 
619; Hayti the next, $199,818 ; and the Danish West Indies, 
$105)937- The West Indies together, $1,172,953 — about 
three-fourths. Cuba and Hayti took the mobt pork — about 
one-half; Cuba, Danish West Indies, Hayti and Brazil, three- 
fourths of the hams and bacon; Cuba, nearly three-fourths 
of the lard; and the British American Colonies, two thirds 
of the live hogs. England took only $22,834 — all in pork 
and bacon. Sixteen years afterwards, the ending of the 
fiscal year for the U. S exports was changed to June 30th, 
making the account for 1843 run only nine months. 'Jhe 
export of corn in that time was less than three fourths of the 
year's export for 1827, and the proportion of cornmeal export 



120 INDIAN CORN AND IT3 CULTURE. 

greater. Of corn, Mexico took the largest part, 357,894 
bushels; the British West Indies and American Colonies, 
respectively, 198,851 and 60,791 bushels. England, Scot- 
land and Ireland, none. Of cornmeal, the two last named 
Colonies took thj greatest part, 88,078 and 19,897 barrels; 
and the Danish West Indies, a steady customer in this line, 
51,924 barrels. Of pork, the British West Indies took 10.408. 
and British American Colonies, 37,828 barrels — more than 
half; Hayti, more than one ninth; and Cuba, one-third of 
that. Of hams and bacon, in pounds, Cuba took nearly a 
third ; British West Indies, a twelfth ; England, over a 
fourth ; Brazil, one-twentieth; and Mexico over one-thirtieth. 
Of the lard, France, a nation of cooks, with her little West 
Indies, Guiana and Fishery Islands, bought 11,799,076 
pounds; Cuba, 4,400,122; England, 4,539,216; British 
AVest Indies, 724,728; China, 502,170; and Danish West 
Indies, 270,677. Nearly all the hogs exported were sent to 
British ports in the West Indies, American Colonies and 
Guiana. 

Eighteen years later, U. S. documents for 1861 make the 
exports of Indian corn and cornmeal to British realms more 
than $7,150,000; and pork, bacon, lard and lard oil more 
than $8,879,000 — the corn export being two-thirds of the 
whole exported that year. England, Scotland and Ireland 
took about four-fifths of it; the British North American 
Provinces, about one-seventh; and British West Indies and 
Guiana one-fourteenth. The previous year's corn export for 
England, Scotland and Ireland had been little more than 
one-fourth, and its swine export less than four-sevenths in 
value. The British West Indies were the best patrons in the 
cornmeal trade ; after them, the British North American pos- 
sessions on the Atlantic, and next, the Danish West Indies. 
Cuba and Porto Rico in 1861 took nearly Si, 120,000 of 
swine products; and Hayti more than ^528,000 — mostly 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 121 

pork. In 1862 the British Islands added about 50 per cent, 
to their imports of our maize and meal, and about doubled 
their import of our swine products. Canada also improved 
on '61. Cuba took one-half more lard, and Hayti more 
than 40 per cent more pork. France took, of hog products, 
mostly lard, more than $2,000,000; and Belgium nearly 
$450,000, lard and bacon. In 1863 our exports of Indian 
corn to England were $3,846,404, and to Ireland, $3,882,- 
801 ; and of swine products, to Great Britain, $22,590,829, 
of which England took more than $21,000,000, two-thirds of 
which was bacon. The exports to Canada, and her British 
neighbors, of maize and meal were $2,066,136, and of swine 
products, $1,529,814; and to Cuba and Porto Rico, of the 
latter, over $2,525,000; to France, of swine products, over 
$5,168,500, to Belgium, over $1,270,000; and to other 
European powers, such as Hamburg, Bremen, Holland, &c. 
of the same, in amounts varying from $1,000,000 to $400,000 
— lard was the heaviest item. To Mexico, the exports of 
maize and meal were $272,411; to the South American States, 
nearly $200,000. For lard, Venezuela, Brazil, Chili, Peru, 
and the Guianas were our customers, in amounts vary- 
ing from $43,000 to nearly $300,000; and for pork, bacon 
and lard oil in smaller amounts, respectively. More or less 
of these products was shipped to the East Indies, China, 
Japan, Australia, Polynesia, and such scattered islands as the 
Madeiras and Azores. 

The export prices (see U. S. Agricultural Report, 1868) as 
an average, have been stated for a period of ten years ending 
1840, at 7iJ^ cents per bushel of Indian corn, and $3.73 per 
barrel of cornmeal ; for ten years ending 1850, at 69^ cents 
per bushel for corn, and $3.31 per barrel for cornmeal; for 
ten years ending i860, at 72^ cents, and $3.76 of same, 
respectively. 

U 



122 INDIAN COKN AND ITS CULTURE. 

Since i860 the average has been : 



YEARS. 


PER BUSH. 


PER BEL. 


YEARS. 


PER BUSH. 


PER BBL. 


I86I 


$o.64>^ 


$3-40 


1865 


$1.30 


$7-47 


1862 


55 


3-<^7 


1866 


82 


4.76 


1863 


(>SH 


3-93 


1867 


99^ 


5- 47 


1864 


8i}i 


5-14 


1868 


1.17;^ 


6.15 



Perhaps the most interesting year connected with these 
reports, was that of 1864. The three great British Islands 
received, as our exports, of Indian corn, $1,647,265; of corn- 
meal, 85,095; of Pork, $798,037; of lard, $3,094,630; of 
lard oil, $217,962; of bacon, $10,495,231. To Canada, and 
other British possessions in North America, we exported in 
that year more than $1,000,000 of maize, and $233,603 corn- 
meal; nearly $2,500,000 of pork; $337,617 of bacon, and 
$269,189 of lard. To the British West Indies, and posses- 
sions in Central and South America, (including British Hon- 
duras and Guiana) in round numbers, $254,000 maize, 
$659,000 meal, $803,000 pork, $306,000 lard, $34,000 lard 
oil, and $178,700 bacon. To Cuba and Porto Rico, nearly 
$223,000 of corn and meal, over one-eighth of this being 
grain; nearly $2,207,000 of lard j $453>333 ofhams and ba- 
con, and nearly $415,000 of pork. France received nearly 
$2, 770,000 lard; Belgium, $311,063, and Bremen, Hamburg 
and the German Zollverein, over $609,000 of same. To Mex- 
ico, nearly $400,000 of swine products, and over $257,000 
corn and meal; to South America, more than $1,000,000 of 
pork, lard, &c. North Americans, in corn and swine pro- 
ducts, were our customers for over $4 000,000. 

But sufficient space has already been given to the distribu- 
tion of the exports, in this connection. Its illustration for 
the subsequent years may be given more briefly in the forms 
of tables, or diagrams. A few facts in regard to the imports 
for which our products are exchanged, may not be out of 
place. In 1827 we imported from Cuba, cigars, sugar, 



INDIAN CORN AND IT3 CULTURE. 123 

molasses and spices. Sugar, also, from other Spanish, and 
the Danish West Indies ; molasses from French, British and 
Dutch West Indies. Iron from Great Britain, Sweden and 
Norway, and Russia. Hemp from Russia; cotton bagging 
from Scotland ; Silks from China, France, England and Italy. 
Wines from Netherlands, France, Portugal, Spain, Gibraltar, 
Madeira and Teneriffe. Opium from Turkey, the Levant 
and Egypt. Spirits from Netherlands and Danish West 
Indies. Indigo from Colombia and Mexico. The former 
also sent us Cocoa and spices, and the latter, bullion; Brazil, 
hides; Spain, raisins; China, teas; and England, in addition 
to hers above stated, coal, salt, white lead, cotton bagging, 
carpeting, watches, harness, hosiery, cotton goods, woolens 
and copper. Peru, Colombia, Mexico and British West 
Indies sent us spices. Under amounts of $100,000 very 
many other articles were imported. 

In 1843 the records exhibit imports from England of 
greater variety than from other countries : castings, iron, 
cloths and cassimeres, cottons, manufactures of flax, laces, 
sheet tin and books. France shipped blankets, worsteds, 
cottons, leghorn hats and silks. Cuba added coffee to her 
sweets, which was also imported from Hayti, Venezuela and 
Brazil. Russia sent us sail duck ; China, tea and silks. Aus- 
tralia, Brazil and the Argentine Republic, wool; and the last 
two, as well as other South American States, material for 
leather; Manilla and Philippine Islands, sugar ; Mexico, dye- 
woods; and Texas, not then admitted, raw cotton. Spain, 
who has a mountain of salt, and Portugal, helped our sup- 
plies of that prime necessity. A great variety of fruits and 
spices, in smaller quantities, came from Southern Europe 
and the East Indies. 

Some of the imports in 1862 were madder from Holland 
and her Colonial possessions ; gums arabic and tragacanth, 
as well as benzoin and myrrh from British Islands ; 



124 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

dyewoods in sticks from Central and South America. 
Gold in bullion, from Canada and the British North Ameri- 
can possessions, New Grenada, Venezuela, and from Liberia 
and other ports of Africa. 

The imports in 1873 were more varied : raw jute and other 
grasses from British East Indies,' Mexico and Germany — 
gunny cloth from the Indies; marble from England, Scot- 
land, Italy and Nova Scotia; old iron from Belgium, France, 
Scotland, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Cuba, Quebec 
and Ontario. Steel rails for railroads from England and 
Scotland. Silver bullion from Mexico chiefly ; gums from 
Austria and the British possessions in Australia; horse hair 
for weaving, from the Argentine Republic and Brazil. India 
rubber and gutta percha from Brazil, Central American 
States, British West Indies, Colombia and Mexico. Volatile 
oils and paintings from Italy. Cotton and linen rags from 
Belgium, Italy, and Turkey in Africa ; raw silk from China ; 
nitrate of soda from Chili and Peru ; bars of tin from British 
and Dutch East Indies. Cork, bark and wood, unmanu- 
factured, from Spain and Portugal; crude camphor from 
Japan ; Cocoa from Colombia and Guiana. Fruits and nuts 
from Honduras, Greece, Italy and Spain, and Turkey in Asia. 
Goat's hair, wool of alpaca and sheep, from Argentine Re- 
public, Chili and Brazil. This list is but a small portion of 
the products enumerated as imports, in the late U. S. Reports 
on Commerce and Navigation. 

In 1 791 (including the cornmeal with the grain, at about 
four bushels to the barrel) the quantity exported, to each 100 
inhabitants, was about 52^ bushels; in 1800, about ^S}(; 
in 1810, about 9^; in 1820, nearly 11^; in 1830, nearly 8; 
in 1840, about 8|; in 1850, 32 j%; in i860, 13 J4; in 1870, 5^. 
The last census year showed the lowest Indian corn export 
for many years, and the years subsequent to 1871, the very 
highest. A fair estimate of the population for 1876 would 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



125 



make the proportion of the export much more than 5 5^ ; but it 
is not considered even safe for the agricultural interests of the 
United States, to increase the exports of this grain rapidly. 
Indian corn, being a gross feeder, exhausts the soil if 
raised successively on the same land for a long period, with- 
out abundant returns, in some way, of its treasures removed. 
Before giving some account of the exporting districts of 
United States, we extract the following summary of exports 
of corn and meal from the Monthly Report of the Agricul- 
tural Department, for May and June, 1876. 





Corn. 


Cornmeal. 


Total; 


Five years 
ending 


Busliels. 


Bushiels. 


Bushels. 


Bushels. 




1S30 


3,530.710 
•2.568,94G 




3,133.632 
3,269,532 




6,664,342 






6,403,164 
9,778,884 
14,309,880 
24,284,080 
28,770,504 
33,935,872 
38,642,300 
44,062,396 
44,912,960 
46,148,320 
47,760.764 
49,311,992 
50,478,608 






6,099,056 
' 7J284,'629" 


12,502,820 


1840 


6,099 656 
1,184,973 


6,403,164 
3,375.720 




17 003 513 


1S45 


7,284,629 
3,474.109 


9,778,884 
4,530.996 






10,768,738 


25,068,618 

• 


1S50 


10,758.738 
43,822,153 

54,580,891 
23,905,196 


14.309.880 
9,974,800 




54,580,891 


78,865,571 




24 284.680 
4,486,824 




, 78,486,087 


107,255,591 


I860 


78.486,087 
27,597,896 


28,770.504 
5,165,368 




100,033,983 


140,019,855 


1S65 


100,083,983 
52,612,028 


33,935 872 
4.706,428 




158,696,011 
""206,689,"287" 
""216','515i596' 
""25i','607,246 


197 338 311 


1870 


158.696.011 
47,993,276 


38,642 300 
5,420,096 






250,751,683 


For the year 
1S71 


206,689,287 
9,826,309 


44 062 39G 
850,564 

44,912.960 
1.235,300 




261,428.556 


1872 


216,515,596 
34,491,650 




297,155,566 


1873 


251 007.246 
38.541 930 

289..'U9.176 
34 434,606 


46,448,320 
1,612,444 




289,549,176 


337 309 9 10 


1874 


47,760,764 
1,551,228 






323,983,782 


373,295,774 


1875 


323,983,782 
28,858,420 


49,311,992 
1,166,616 




352,842,202 


403,320,810 

1 - 




352,842,202 


50,478,608 



126 , INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 

In the more recent Reports on Commerce and Navigation, 
the exports of the United States are stated not only with 
reference to the foreign countries to which they are exported, 
but also with respect to the districts marked out for the pur- 
pose of collecting the revenue. The names given them do 
not always indicate the chief places of export, within their 
boundaries. They have also changed more or less, or rather 
the enumeration of them in the Reports from year to year. 
For instance, there were twenty-eight in the list for 1864, or 
rather twenty-eight numbers including them, the first begin- 
ning with Passamaquoddy, Maine, from which was exported 
5,630 bushels of corn, and only 60 barrels of cornmeal ; but 
pork, lard and bacon to the value of more than 1^3 1,600. 
Portland, Maine, exports very little corn or meal; but lard to 
the amount of ^123,452, and pork, about one-thirteenth that. 
The other ports of Maine export but a small quantity; so 
with the ports of New Hampshire. Two numbers are here 
allowed to Massachusetts. No. 5 containing Boston and 
Charlestown, and No. 6, the other ports of the State. Boston 
district exported in 1864, nearly $1,341,000 in all, pork 
being nearly half, lard one-third, and cornmeal nearly one- 
thirteenth. Boston's is about 4 per cent of the U. S. export. 
The prices of corn, being higher in that neighborhood, pre- 
vent it from exporting largely of this grain. The 7th number 
includes the ports of Rhode Island, that of Providence 
being chief. The exports from this district do not reach 
Si 00, 000. The 8th No. includes the ports of Connecticut, 
(New London, New Haven and Fairfield) with rather more 
of an export. The 9th, New York, is by far the largest. 
The bushels of corn exported in 1864 were more than two 
and one-half millions. No. 10 is the Champlain (N. Y.) 
district. No. 11, the Lake ports, returning about three-tenths 
of a million dollars. 12th, Vermont; 13th, Newark, and 
ports of New Jersey. 14th, Philadelphia ; 15th, Erie ; i6th, 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 127 

Delaware — cornmeal, &c.,more than $68,000. 17th, Balti- 
more; 1 8th Beaufort, North Carolina, and 19th, Beaufort, 
South Carolina. 20th, Key West, in Florida; 21st, New 
Orleans — the city. 22d, Brazos Santiago, Texas; 23d Cuya- 
hoga, and the Lake ports of Ohio, 24th, Detroit and Macki- 
naw, Michigan; 25th, Chicago, Illinois. 26th, Milwaukee, 
Wisconsin, which exports some $217^000 of swine products, 
mostly pork. 27th, San Francisco, California. 28th, Ore- 
gon and Washington Territories ; swine and products, over 
$50,000. Reference is made only to corn and hog products. 
The Report for 1867 gives numbers for 72 collection 
districts, including, in Maine, Frenchman's Bay, Machias, 
Castine, Wiscasset, Bath, Portland and Falmouth, Belfast and 
Bangor. Portland being the only one returning a consider- 
able amount of exports. Portsmouth, N. H. is the loth on 
this list, with only $84 of cornmeal. Vermont, the nth, 
does better, being a border district not far from the great 
Canada thoroughfares. Massachusetts has Newburyport, 
Gloucester, Salem, Marblehead, Boston, Plymouth, Fall 
River, New Bedford, Edgartown and Nantucket, all of which, 
leaving out Boston, amount to little more than $50,000. 
2 2d to 24th, Providence, Bristol and Newport, hardly reach 
$2,100. New London, New Haven and Fairfield do much 
better, especially with cornmeal. 28th to 35th are New 
York ports, of which Oswego and Buffalo are the chief, out- 
side of the great City. Philadelphia's export of corn is, in 
a rough calculation, one tenth of that of NewYork ; of meal 
not quite, one-fifth; of lard, one-fourteenth; of lard oil, 
one-fortieth; and of pork, one-twentieth, Baltimore ex- 
ported, in 1867, less corn, more cornmeal, and very much 
more of hog products than Philadelphia. Delaware shipped 
nearly $32,000 cornmeal. Norfolk is an old exporting city, 
which sent off about seven times as much corn in 1791, as it 
did in the seventy-sixth year after. Of Nos, 45 to 58, includ- 



128 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

ing Edenton, Newbern, Beaufort, Wilmington, Charleston, 
Georgetown, Savannah, Mobile, Pensacola, Key West, St. 
Johns, Appalachicola, Fernandina and Pearl River, only 
Charleston, Key West and Savannah exported anything. 
No. 59, New Orleans, exported nearly $500,000 corn and 
swine products. Texas (60th) exported less than $600 bacon 
and lard. Miami, 62d, (does this include Toledo, Ohio?) 
exported more than 259,000 bushels of corn. Sandusky, 
about $1,820 corn and bacon. 64th, Cuyahoga, (Cleveland) 
nearly ^108,000 corn. Detroit, Port Huron and Michillim- 
ackinac are in Michigan, and except the latter, deal largely 
in exports. Chicago comes nearest New York in the maize 
export; Milwaukee is more of a wheat exporter. The re- 
maining three numbers, for Oregon, Puget's Sound and San 
Francisco, are the last on this list, with a small trade in this 
line. 

The lists for 1871 and '73 contain a few more numbers, 
but are arranged in alphabetical order. 

The changes in the exports of the larger cities, included 
in the following tables, will be best indicated therein. Bruns- 
wick, Georgia; Corpus Christi, in Texas; Teche, in Loui- 
siana; Minnesota, and Duluth in that State, and Superior, in 
Michigan, are new districts, and probably destined to be 
exporting places of considerable importance. The Portland 
(Maine) export of maize was much smaller, and of meats, 
much larger, in 1873 than in '67. Its bacon and lard export 
was greatly extended. But as a rule, the business in this line, 
in the smaller ports on the Northern Atlantic coast, seem to 
have fallen off in the interval. New Haven, New London 
and Delaware are among the exceptions. Key West, in 
Florida, improved greatly, exhibiting only 8255 in '67 and 
over $200,000 of maize and hog products in '73. Texas 
improved somewhat; and those of San Francisco were 
about doubled. Oswegatchie, in New York, gained largely. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 129 

It is clear that the Northern ports bordering on Canada 
and Ontario, are destined to great improvement as ex- 
porters of these products. The estabUshment of a more 
permanent government, on a more liberal basis, as well as 
the natural advantages of these British provinces are inviting 
immigration, and the discovery of gold in British Colombia, 
will doubtless aid their agricultural and commercial progress. 
Important lines of communication have been established. 

Taking into view the whole history of the West especially. 
Cincinnati, Chicago and Toledo, and perhaps Louisville and 
Indianapolis, may be considered Indian corn cities. It is 
true, the iron business has done a great deal for the first ; but 
pork packing seems to have done more towards establishing 
its character, and preparing it for entering successfully on 
general manufacturing. The pork business draws in a large 
number of farmers, and dealers in farm produce. St. Louis, 
Chicago, Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland and Buffalo, have been 
to a considerable extent, and some of them to a great extent, 
transporting cities. It is probable that a city in a favorable 
position as a transporter of produce stands the best chance 
for rapid growth. Where large capital is invested in con- 
veniences for the reception and storage of grain, and in safe 
and fast lines of movement both by water and land, better 
prices can be given for the great staples, and sales at a reasona- 
ble price can be made more certain. And persons or firms 
forwarding their produce to such places, generally find it 
convenient to make their wholesale purchases there, and 
especially to buy their machinery. It is the policy then, for 
transporting cities especially, and for manufacturing cities 
generally, to connect themselves with as wide a circle of 
productive and commercial districts as possible. The suc- 
cess of the three great Western cities is largely due to this. 
New Orleans has so many natural advantages that it must, 
in due time, take its place again as a large exporting city. 



130 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



The developments in the character of the new lands acquired 
by the United States, since the introduction of irrigation on 
a large scale, make it almost certain that the grain culture 
will keep pace with the increase of population. But the 
facts show that foreign exports of maize products will not ; 
and, although the success of the United States in maize cul- 
ture, accompanied with immense immigration, past and to 
come, familiarizes the old world nations with its advantages 
as food for man and beast, it is better that the culture, rather 
than the product, should be successfully carried round the 
world. It has been a common saying with experienced farm- 
ers, that a good crop of Indian corn makes everything on the 
farm flourish. Its large leaves and widely extended roots 
make it eminently calculated to prepare the way for other 
products. Its widely extended culture is also favorable to 
health. 

In the East there seems to be a tendency more and more 
towards the largest cities, for the purpose of exportation, 
especially for exports to Europe. One reason of this may 
be the recent high development of steam navigation, ena- 
bling the largest merchant vessels to take in very heavy 
freights at cheaper rates ; so that even maize has been some- 
times sold at a less price, by the wholesale, in Liverpool 
than in New York. But the state of the currency came in 
for a share of this result. 

Our notices of early exports, recorded from year to year, 
begin with Philadelphia, as follows : (See U. S. P. O. Reports ) 



YEARS. CORN, BUSH. 



MEAL, BBLS. 



I83I 


42,293 


45,432 


1832 


48,589 


50,323 


1833 


66,708 


51,903 


1834 


3', 526 


50,018 


1835 


25,457 


50,869 


1836 


19,117 


42,798 


1837 


21,486 


63803 


1838 


17,087 


64,002 



rEARS. 


CORN, BOSH. 


MEAL, BBLS 


1839 

1840 
I84I 


17,117 

76.749 
80,266 


73800 

89,486 

108 822 


1842 

1843 

1844 


83.772 

74,613 

110,068 


97,884 
106,484 
101,356 


1845 


129,256 


115,101 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



131 



There were shipped into Buffalo by the lakes in 1843, 
of maize, 223,963 bushels; in '44, 137,978 bushels; in '45, 
54.200. 

The following, made up from U. S. P. O. Reports, shows 
the corn exports of Philadelphia, compared with the receipts 
and exports of Boston ; the bushels of corn that came on all 
the canals (a) to Hudson river; and exports (b) from Chicago. 



Corn 
Export 
bn&h. 





Philadelphia. 




Boston. 




Canals, {a) 


Yrs. 


Corn. 

bushels. 


Meal, 
barrels. 


Corn, bushels. 


Cornmeal, btals. 




Receipts. 


Exports. 


Rec'pts. 


Exports 

8,651 

44.903 

42,849 

in U. S. 


1846 

1847 

1848 

1849* 

1S50 

1851 


279,820 
1,102,210 
817,1.50 
906,823 
602.680 
554,545 


144.857 

300 531 

140,014 

91.349 

94.334 

65,385 


2,374.484 
2,601,424 
3,748.509 
2,789 313 
2,116,744 
2,175,£67 


191,254 
568,025 
518,866 
325,768 


8,637 

25,080 

41,144 

Cholera 


1,610.149 

6,053,845 
2,953,963 
5,121,270 
3,228,056 
7,670 345 



11,947 
67,315 
339,741 
644,848 
262.013 
3221,317 



*See U. S. P. O. Report, 1849-50, (pages 532-533) for year ending Sept. SOth, '49. 

For the month of January 1849, there were exported from 
New York City to Liverpool 109,600 bushels of corn, of 
United States growth; 6,063 bushels to Ireland ; 400 to the 
British North American Colonies, and 669 to the British "West 
Indies. In Baltimore the inspections of cornmeal for 1848 
were 129 hogsheads, 45,451 barrels, and 1,044 half barrels; 
in 1849, 428 hogsheads, 51,772 barrels, and 2,051 half bar- 
rels. (See U. S. P. O. Report, 1849-50, page 535.) 

In the three following years, from the opening to the close 
of navigation, there were received at Buffalo, by the lake : 



Years. 


Corn, bushels. 


Pork, barrels. 


Lard, pounds. 


Bacon, pounds. 


1847 


2,862.300 
2,298,100 
3,321,651 


63,7,50 
66,000 
59 954 


3,436,000 
5,632,112 
5,311 037 




1848 




1849 


5193,996 



Bacon in 1847 and '48 is included in the pork. 

There were first cleared at Buffalo, (canal freight) in 1848, 
2,187,562 bushels of corn, and 3,328,463 in 1849; barrels 
of pork, 67,076 in '48, and 41,643 in '49; bacon, 7,248,347 
and 4,379.058 pounds; lard, in the same years, respectively, 
6,056,470, and 4,344,725 pounds. 



132 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



Toledo shipped to Oswego, during the season of 1849, 
186,690 bushels of corn, 200 barrels of cornmeal, 26,227 
barrels of pork; 3,212,320 pounds of bacon, and 3,991,373 
pounds of lard and grease. The following are the principal 
places where hogs were packed in the West, in 1849-50, witl:i 
the numbers cut. (See U. S. P. O. for those years.) 



OHIO. 
Miami and Scioto Valleys, 122,000' 
Cincinnati, . , . . . 393,775 
Ripley, (estimated) . . 8,000 

Total, 523,775 

KENTUCKY. 
Louisville, "^ 
Jeffersonville and >■ . . 184,000 
New Albany, J 
Maysville, 14,000 

Total, 198,000 

INDIANA. 

Whitewater Canal, . . 62,000 

Madison, Sb.yog^ 

Indianapolis, .... 14,000 

Evansville, 14,500 

Terre Haute, .... 59,566 

LaP'ayette, 39.200 

Total, with other places, . 428,575 



ILLINOIS. 

Shawneetown, . . . , 12,000 

Lacon, 11,500 

Peoria, 21,000 

Pekin, 26,000 

Canton, 19,000 

Springfield, I9,500 

Beardstown, 31,000 

Alton, 30,000 

Chicago, winter packing, 11,500 

Total, with ether places, ; 268,100 

MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

St. Louis, 124.000 

Hannibal, 24.500 

Quincy, 29,000 

Keokuk, 19,000 

Burlington, 29000 

Total, with other places, . 252,900 
Grand Total, . . . 1,871,330 

Baltimore, in 1848-49, . 150,000 
Baltimore, in 1849-50, . . 100,000 



The tonnage of the principal ports of the U. S. for the 
year ending June 30th, was : 

TONS. 95ths.] TONS. 9;5ths. 

New York, . . . 796491 79 Norfolk, . . . . 23,016 26 

Boston, .... 296890 04; Mobile, .... 25,067 79 

New Bedford, . . 123,911 57|Buffalo 40,667 34 

Bath 88820 84|Pittsburg, . . . 35,77° 63 

Portland, 84,568 8olDetroit 33466 94 

J'hiladelphia, . . . 188057 2i!St. Louis, . . . . 32,255 08 

Baltimore, . . . 134,025 66J Cuyahoga, .... 30,047 11 

New Orleans, . . 240,206 24|Oswego, . . , . 22,151 68 

Charleston, S. C. . . 29.285 48iChicago 17^32 43 

Wilmington, N. C. . 16,641 S7I Cincinnati, . . . 16,897 74 



INDIAN CORX AND ITS CULTURE, 133 

There arrived at, and cleared from, Cleveland, Ohio, by 
way of canal, in the years — 



1848. 1849. 
Corn, bushels, 621,454 547,605 
Pork, Barrels, . 26,111 23,031 



1848. 1849 

Bacon, pounds, 1,820,155 1,145,58^ 
Lard, pounds, 1,636,803 1,723,806 



Of the exports of Indian corn to foreign countries, in 1873, 
reckoned in bushels: New York exported more than one- 
half; Baltimore, more than one-sixth; Chicago, nearly one- 
tenth ; Philadelphia, nearly one-thirteenth ; Miami district, 
nearly one-fourteenth. After these, come Boston and New 
Orleans, in nearly equal quantity. Of barrels of cornmeal, 
New York exported, in round numbers, 201,000; Boston, 
72,000; Baltimore, 62,000; Philadelphia, nearly 33,000. Of 
the new exporting districts, Toledo, and Huron (Michigan), 
are remarkable for rapid increase. 

With regard to the general policy of exporting other pro- 
ducts than Indian corn, perhaps the result of Mr. Sullivant's 
investigations as to hog feeding and pork making, contained 
in the Ohio Agricultural Report, for 1869, furnish one of the 
best illustrations. One bushel of corn (56 pounds) fed on 
the ear, "returns, under ordinary circumstances, ten pounds 
of pork." Taking the ordinary rates of freight, from Chicago 
to Liverpool, on corn and pork, and making due allowances 
for the expense of slaughtering and packing, and the 
difference in the selling prices there, between a pound of 
Indian corn and a pound of mess pork, and it will be seen 
how much less is taken from the farmer's profits by the 
freight on corn, in pork, than on corn in grain. Then the ma- 
nure saved in the process of feeding, and skillfully applied, 
is clear gain to the farm. The difference in the value of 
the corn and meal, and the swine product exports in 1873, 
the latter being about two and a half times as much as the 
former, shows how well these facts are appreciated. Even 
in 182 1, when values were first apparent for corn and meal, 



134 



INDIAN CORN AXD ITS CULTURE, 



in the returns of export above referred to, the total value of 
srt'ine products exported was more than double that of corn 
and meal. 

But whether it is necessary to the progress of agriculture 
in the United States, to extend this rule of limitation of the 
t\]:)orts of Indian corn to our near neighbors as fully as to far 
distant, and especially trans-atlantic countries, is another 
question. Cuba is about as far from New Orleans as St. 
Louis, and it is to be presumed that the sugar culture, and 
that of coffee, which afford our States immense supplies of arti- 
cles which enter into the consumption of the great majority 
of households, would be nearly as wearing to the soil of that 
island, as maize culture is to that of the Ohio valley. But it 
so happens, so far, that Cuba does not need our corn as we 
do her sugar. But Mexico, Honduras and St. Thomas are 
not much more distant, and corn meal has always been in 
demand in the Danish West Indies, and may become so in 
the States south of us. Guiana and Venezuela are some- 
times good customers in this line, and the waste of the arti- 
cles we obtain from them may help to keep up the fertility 
of our corn lands. We could spare some maize, if needed, 
to obtain the guano of Peru. Canada, New Brunswick and 
Nova Scotia are just over the line, and they have greatly 
increased their facilities for transportation. In proportion 
to their population, they seem to have been as good custom- 
ers in this line as the parent country. Their rivers run into 
the lakes that aid so much in sending moisture to our farms, 
and furnishing water-way for their products. 

To exhibit the consumption of corn in the United States, 
as food, &c. , for man and beast, in various forms, it is only 
necessary to deduct the export, for the given year, of Indian 
corn and cornmeal, in bushels, and the quantity used as 
seed, from the entire estimated product. The Monthly 
Agricultural Report, for May and June, 1876, gives, as the 



tNDlAN CORN AND ITS CtJLTUKE. 136 

quantity of seed for 1870, 12,882,325 bushels; for 1871, 
11,363,712; for 1872, 11,842,278; for 1873, 13,065,716; 
and for 1874, 13,678,972. The bushels of corn and meal 
export are contained in the general summary of exports 
above quoted, from the same document. The whole con- 
sumption as thus calculated, would be 1,070,695,802 bushels 
for 1870; 944,807,278 for 1871 ; 1,040,722,348 for 1872; 
883,222,450 for 1873, and 806,444,492 for 1874. 



CHAPTER VI. 

BOTANICAL CHARACTER AND VARIETIES OF INDIAN CORN. 

Before this plant is botanically described, it may be of 
interest to give some of the names it has borne in the differ- 
ent regions over which it has traveled. It has already been 
stated that the original of the word maize is the Haytian mats 
or mahiz, as differently spelled by historians. Some, how- 
ever, have supposed that it came from the Lettish or Livonic 
niayse, signifying bread. Trigo de Indias seems to be a Spanish 
term founded on the fact that Columbus brought samples of 
it to his home, in Spain, after his first voyage in search of 
India, which resulted in the discovery of America. The Eu- 
ropeans of that age had the Indies on the brain, and Colum- 
bus, in his first grand adventure, supposed he had found 
them. Another of these European names for this corn was 
Ble d' Indie. As it was not very long in finding a congenial 
soil in those magnificent farming districts which Turkey 
claims to rule, and is now struggling to retain, from which 
centre it gradually spread among the neighboring nations, it 
acquired the common name of Ble de Turquoise. 

The botanical name is Zca Mays. Zca is from the Greek 
zoo, to live. The ancients of the East had their bread made 



136 INDIAN COBN AND ITS CULTURE. 

out of one or more of the grains native to their several dis- 
tricts, from the peninsula overlooked by the pillars of Hercu- 
les to the Indian Archipelago; and this they considered, as 
we do our bread, the staff of life. Hence Zea seems to 
include all bread-stuffs, although the modern systems of bot- 
any, being founded on more technical distinctions, have in 
some cases classed the bread-stuffs with the grasses. 

A description contained in the American Farm Book is less 
cumbered with scientific terms than those generally given by 
botanists : ''A strong, reedy, jointed stalk, provided with 
large alternate leaves, almost like flags, springing from every 
joint; the top producing a bunch of male flowers of various 
colors, called tassel. Each plant has one or more spikes, or 
earsP "These ears proceed from the stalk at various distances 
from the ground, and are closely enveloped by several thin 
leaves — a sheath — the husk. The ears are cylindrical, with 
a pith, called cob; the seeds are ranged all over it, in eight 
or more straight rows, each row with as many as thirty or 
more seeds. The germs of the seeds are nearly radial from 
the center of the cylinder ; from these eyes proceed individ- 
ual filaments — the silk" "These (filaments) hang in a thick 
bunch from the point of the husk. They are the siigmata, their 
business being to receive the farina, which drops from the 
flowers on the top, and without which the ear would'produce 
no seed; a fact proved by cutting off the top before flowering, 
the ears becoming barren. This office performed, the tassel 
and silk dry up and wither. The grains are of various col- 
ors, mostly yellow of various shades ; sometimes nearly white, 
and (sometimes) approaching red." Some are of deep choco- 
late ; others greenish or olive; and the same ear may have 
grains of different colors. The kernels are long, round, flat, 
or shriveled. 

There are two or more leading spstems of botany now in 
vogue: the Linnean, which for a long time was most promi- 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 137 

nent, and the Natural system, the adjustment of which has 
varied in the hands of different scientists. The Linnean 
ranges the individual plants in varieties, which are gathered 
into species, the species are reduced to genera, and these 
to orders, which are arranged in classes, one of which, called 
Monxcia, is founded on the fact that the same culm^ or stalk, 
contains the stavicn, (the tassel above described) and i\\Q pistil, 
(the silk projecting from the spike, or ear); the pollen fertilizing 
the ear. 

Prof. Lindley's "Natural System of Botany" (1835) has five 
great classes of plants, the third of which is the Endogens^ or 
Monocotyledonous flowering plants, characteristics of which 
are "leaves with parallel veins ; stem without any distinction 
of wood, pith, bark and medullary rays. Flowers usually 
appear with a ternary division. Seeds in a pericarp. 
Cotyledons solitary, or if two, unequal and alternate with 
each other." Part of this class have the flower incomplete 
(having no distinct floral envelopes, except leaves). Among 
these are plants with glumaceous flowers, which contain 
the Granmiaceoc , or Graminicz, (grass tribe), and among 
these the Gramina, or grains. In the above work the reader 
will find a very full description of the grain tribe in general, 
and maize in particular. "Lindley's Introduction to Bota- 
ny," published in 1835, gives a full explanation of the tech- 
nical terms. The "Vegetable Kingdom," published in 1853, 
in London, is a work worthy of this Professor of Botany, in 
the University of that city. He here introduces alliances 
among his classes, and among the alliances of £ndogens, are 
the Glumales, the flowers being glumaceous — (that is to say, 
composed of bracts not collected in true whorls, but consist- 
ing of imbricated colorless or herbaceous scales.) Among 
the natural orders of Gliimals are the aforesaid Graminacece, 
the characteristics of which are an ovary, one-celled, with 
two or more distinct (or united ) styles ; ovule ascending ; 
12 



138 INDIAxN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 

embryo lateral, naked. Under this head, among the plants 
of the grass tribe, the Professor gives the substance of his 
comparisons of the maize with other grains and food plants; 
which the votary of science Avill find very important as well 
as interesting. It may give some idea of the vastness of Na- 
ture's variety, to state that this botanist assigns to the order 
Graminacecc 291 genera, and 3,800 species. 

The relation oi the varieties of maize to the subject of 
prices has already been referred to, and their nature as indi- 
cated in the course of the historical statements as to that topic, 
will allow of more brevity in the present discussion. 

The most obvious differences between these varieties are 
those of color, size of ear, number of rows of the kernels, 
and their external appearance as ranged on the cob. That 
of color seems to be least affected by the climatic relations of 
corn culture. The yellow, however, seems to be more natural 
to the North and the white to the South. This may be mainly 
due to the fact so generally acknowledged, that the Northern 
maize contains more oil, and the Southern more starch. 
The former has more firmness, and perhaps more substantial 
nutriment. It is thought to be more fattening to hogs; distil- 
lers say it is richer in material for their product; it is, perhaps, 
more generally of a flinty nature ; although there are white 
flints as well as yellow. It is said to be better for shipping, 
because its more oily substance makes it less liable to fermen- 
tation. Some prefer it even for bread, but these seem to be 
very much in the minority. In grinding, it breaks up into 
coarser particles, as a whole, although the coarse meal, when 
the finer particles are sifted out, makes, when thoroughly 
boiled, that delicacy often called samp. But this coarseness 
of the meal, as will its less agreeable color, makes it less 
fitted for bread making; the yeast or baking powder would 
not reach the heart of its substance so easily, and the taste 
of the public, in the matter of bread, generally inclines to 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 139 

whiteness, even in that made of wheat; flour from white 
wheat being more generally popular than that from what is 
called red wheat. Many persons complain of the raw taste 
of yellow corn bread; but for cakes, sound yellow corn is 
excellent. The Peruvians are said to raise a white variety, 
coarse and unpalatable as bread material, which is fed to 
swine. But in the United States, white corn, when it is white, 
more generally brings the better price. There are, however, 
all shades between white and yellow, and in many cases, 
graiiis of both colors will be found in the same ear; and it 
will be observed that quotations in the great market are, of 
late, quite as often mixed, as of either of the prime colors. 
The soil, as well as the climate, seems to have some effect on 
the color. A correspondent, in one of the U. S. Reports, 
writing from Jennings County, Indiana, gives it as his expe- 
rience, that the hardness of the white seed in coming up 
greatly exceeds that of yellow ; and that yellow, if sound, 
may come up in wet, heavy soil, but not in cold, wet soil. 
This is in latitude 39°, a very favorable one for maize culture. 
Another correspondent from Fayette County, Indiana, about 
half a degree further North, says that more white than yellow 
is raised, that yellow yields more to the acre, and contains 
more nutriment. Many years ago a correspondent from 
Maine described several fancy colors of corn cultivated there, 
among which were the blood red, described as soft, damp 
and inferior. 

In the South-West, in one of the earlier Agricultural Re- 
ports, is described a new variety, called the Calico corn, 
from the resemblance of its colors to printed cottons, which 
excited much attention. It was said to make very white 
flour, resembling wheat flour in its adaptation to bread, cake 
and pastry making. The Indians in the far West cultivate 
smaller varieties with a greater number of colors. A late 
sojourner among the Indians of Arizona and New Mexico, 



140 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

(see U. S, Agricultural Report, 1870) in describing their 
culture and uses of maize, says the grains vary in color, 
through shades of pink, blue and white, and the ears are 
generally small and slender. Blue varieties are preferred, 
and sorted from the rest for bread. The Mexicans also use 
them for tortillas, or cakes. Some of these, grown by the 
Pueblo Indians, in or near Arizona, are said to be about the 
same as those grown in Mexico, when conquered by Cortez. 
A variety of sweet corn, called the Black, and approaching 
very nearly to that color, was obtained by Capt. Burch, of 
Marietta, Ohio, from one of the Indians, during a steamboat 
trip along one of the South-Western rivers. Its cultivation 
was a success in Marietta, and as a variety for the table, was 
considered equal to any other of that class. The occasional 
red ears found in a field of common corn, which were so 
much prized in the old-fashioned husking bees, are probably 
among those accidents which cannot be easily accounted for. 

Returning to the North-East; among the old varieties were 
the red blaze and red glaze ; the latter producing, it is said, in 
some cases, six ears on a stalk. Some writers have ascribed 
the fancy shades, as red, blue and purple, to the colors of 
the oil contained ; others to the epidermis of the grain. The 
truth of the matter seems to be, that if the epidermis be 
transparent, the color may depend either on the oil, or on 
the combined particles composing the grain ; "but if the hull 
be opaque, the grain will present the same color. For 
instance, the yellow color of the Golden Sioux is derived 
from the yellow color of the oil, and the Rhode Island white 
flint corn from the colorless particles of starch and oil, which 
are distinctly seen through the transparent hulls ; but red, 
black and blue corn owe their lively hues to the color of their 
epidermis, and not to the oil." — (U. S. P. O. 1853.) 

It is said that white and yellow, placed a long distance 
from corn of other colors, have produced grains of the 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 141 

brightest red. One writer credits this as the effect of the dif- 
ferent portions of iron and other metals acted upon by the 
rays of light. 

A mixture of Brown corn with the common eight-rowed 
yellow, produced a chocolate color. The white flour variety 
was named from the snow-white flour with which the grains 
were filled, composed mostly of starch, having little or no 
oil or gluten. A more recent variety grown at the West, 
the Snow corn, is probably the perfection of the white among 
the maize grains, as the Golden Sioux may be of the yellow. 
White and yellow assist in giving names to a large number 
of varieties. 

The corn proper to the South has an ear of greater diam- 
eter than that which has been established in the North. This 
results from the long seasons of growth which give the stalk. 
an opportunity for growing much taller, and make it neces- 
sary to plant it farther apart, in order to let in the sun and 
air. Fewer stalks being planted in the hill, the limited num- 
ber of ears, where the other conditions of growth are equal 
to those of the Northern corn, will necessarily become much 
larger. 

Western corn, being more indebted to the South than the 
North, although a pretty fair compromise between them, has 
more specimens of mammoth varieties than the latter. 

The number of rows in which the grains are compacted 
on the ear, helps out the nomenclature of the corns, as well 
as the differences between Northern and Southern varieties. 
The eight-rowed yellow is a standard variety in New England 
and Northern New York ; the ears are often long and slender. 
The old fashioned Canada yellow was eight-rowed, with a 
small cob, and was said, in early times, to ripen earlier, and 
to be more solid than any other varieties except Rice and Pop 
corn. The early Canada White Flint was also eight-rowed, 
abounding in oil, and was used mostly for boiling and 



142 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTCRE. 

roasting ears. These two varieties, as the name indicates, 
were among the kinds most cultivated in Canada. The 
Piscataqua, with small kernels and very small cob, and 
ripening early in latitude 4Sfi°, was also eight rowed. The 
Brighton was distributed by members of the Massachusetts 
Legislature, before Maine became a separate State — 1820. 
' It was twelve-rowed. One farmer planted this on light land, 
which he cultivated well, and the result was, nearly all eight- 
rowed ears. A small variety of the same was put on rich 
clay land, and it went back again to twelve rows. 

The statements here made, in regard to varieties, are 
mostly gathered from U. S. P. O. and U. S. Agricultural De- 
partment Reports, beginning with the small issue of 1842. 
Some from agricultural journals, and journals devoting more 
or less of their space to agricultural subjects ; a few from 
other published works on general agriculture. The past, then, 
comes in for a considerable share of them. The testimony 
of experienced farmers on this subject is very general, that 
varieties of maize undergo great and often very rapid 
changes, at least until the variety has become fixed by a long 
course of careful and consistent selection of seed, before 
planting. When it becomes adapted to a certain soil and cli- 
mate, and care is taken to keep it distinct, and preserve its 
good qualities, it may not change perceptibly for twenty 
years. Such has been the experience of several correspond- 
ents of the department referred to. But varieties planted 
out of their proper sphere, speedily change to meet the 
new conditions in which they are placed. It is very common 
for Southern planters to use seed from the North for their 
late planting; or for supplying the place of the early-planted, 
when cut down in its infant growth by worms, or prevented 
from making a stand by other unfavorable influences. For 
the first season or two it preserves its Northern habit of 
ripening early. But the Southern farmer can obtain fresh 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 143 

Northern seed every year if he chooses. On the other hand, 
if the Northerner attempts to introduce the late-ripening 
Southern seed into his planting, where the late frosts come 
so much earlier, he will be very apt to get only fodder' for 
his pains. Southern varieties have been made, however, to 
creep gradually North, so as to infuse by mixing, or otherwise, 
some of their good qualities into the Northern plant, giving 
it more bulk, and taking away some of its hardness. Per- 
haps some of the varieties we shall now mention may be 
Northern corn with a few Southern principles. The Button, 
with rows differently stated — from eight to eighteen — has a 
shorter ear and a larger growth than the Brighton ; colors, 
yellow, and white ; cob large ; the ear sometimes twelve 
to fourteen inches long; the kernels very thick on the cob; 
it ripens early, and when properly managed, yields one 
hundred to one hundred and twenty bushels to the acre. 

In one case, two bushels of sound ears yielded five pecks 
of shelled corn, weighing sixty-two pounds to the bushel. 
It was introduced by Solomon Button, of Cavendish, Ver- 
mont. One of the old varieties in Western New York, called 
the Early Gourd, did not bear so good a character. It was 
very large, and ten or twelve-rowed : was said to be longer 
in ripening, with inferior filling out, requiring too much space 
between the rows on the cob; and did not shell out. or meas- 
ure as much to the bushel. It may have done better in Ohio, 
to which it emigrated many years ago, together with the 
Button. 

As we go further South the number of rows on an ear in- 
creases, that is, in the case of the varieties suited to the 
climate. The varieties last mentioned were cultivated exten- 
sively some twenty or twenty-five years ago in the latitude of 
Rhode Island, between 41° and 42°. The same range of 
latitude extends through South-Eastern New York, Northern 
Pennsylvania, the extreme Northern parts of Ohio, Indiana, 



144 INDIAN CORN A.\D ITS CULTURE, 

Central Iowa and Nebraska, and the extreme Southern part 
of Michigan. But it is well known that the climate is not 
determined by the latitude alone. Much depends on the 
mountams, which diminish the average heat, and on large 
bodies of water, such as the Atlantic Ocean and the Great 
Lakes, which tend to equalize the temperature, softening the 
rigor of winter, and the intense heat of summer; and very- 
much depends on the direction, power and constancy of the 
winds. What are called the isothermal lines (lines of equal 
temperature) were established many yeai's ago, after thorough 
investigation by men of science, and some of the results 
are embodied in an article on Meteorology, by Prof. Joseph 
Henry of the Smithsonian Institute, at Washington City, in 
U. S. P. O. 1856. According to his description of the iso- 
thermal lines, that of the mean temperature of 50° passes 
a little south of Nantucket, (in about latitude 41^^°) almost 
directly West, nearly parallel to the line of the 40th degree 
of North latitude, to about the 95th meridian of West longi- 
tude, in Iowa, and then curves more rapidly to the 
North, meeting the coast of the Pacific in about the 48th 
degree of North latitude, near Puget's Sound. One of the 
mean temperature of summer, that of 70°, (so important to 
the ripening of Indian corn) is exhibited by a line com- 
mencing near Long Island, ascending rapidly towards the 
North, and descending towards the Great Lakes, passing 
through Lake Erie, reaches its greatest Northern declination 
at about the iioth meridian (in about latitude 49°) in Nor- 
thern Montana ; and then turns nearly parallel to the coast, 
and meets the Pacific in the latitude of about 34°. This 
curve "exhibits the great effect which the vicinity of the 
Lakes has on the temperature of summer." While the first 
named line indicating the mean temperature for the year, of 
50°, is "not at all affected by the proximity of these large 
bodies of water, the mean temperature of the summer (70°) 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 145 

is materially reduced." He draws another line in blue, (the 
others being black for the year's average, and red for the 
mean of summer) which blue line denotes a mean tempera- 
ture for winter, of 30°, only two degrees above the freezing 
point ; starting at the East end of Long Island, passes through 
Lake Erie, thence down to the 40th parallel — in longitude, 
about 91° — where Missouri and Iowa corner against Illinois, 
and thence rapidly rises to the North, and leaves the United 
States at the 11 8th meridian, on the North line of Washing- 
ton Territory. This winter line suddenly bends up, after 
passing the mountains, towards Lake Erie, "indicating an 
increase of temperature due to the vicinity of the same reser- 
voirs of water." The other isothermal lines crossing the 
United States will be hereafter described. This foretaste of 
the climatic part of our theme is here given as modifying the 
statements made in regard to the varieties of maize in con- 
nection with the latitude of the places referred to. 

The Brown corn seems to have been, nearly thirty years 
ago, one of the fixed varieties, having large kernels and small 
cob, varying from ten to thirteen inches long. It was highly 
recommended, and the Patent Office sent out samples of it 
to different parts of the Union, to test its qualities. It was 
described in the U. S. P. O. 1847, ^s growing but five feet 
high; could be planted in hills three feet apart; the stalks 
small, and ears near the ground ; useful for planting in or- 
chards, as being less affected by shade than other varieties. 
Its advantages were stated to be — 

1. Greater yield from the same cultivation. 

2. From its rapid growth and early maturity it was secured 
against the late spring and early autumn frost, and might 
be early brought into use or into market. 

3. It was very hard, oily, and excellent for shipping. 

4. The small size of the stalks made it less exhaustive to 
the soil ; less liable to blow down, and capable of being 
planted nearer together. 13 



146 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CCLTUEE. 

In the vicinity of the Hudson river it was said to ripen 
early — by the middle of August. Five ears, about ten inches 
long, shelled, made 2,000 grains, filling a quart measure; 
and making 64,000 grains to the bushel. ' In New Hamp- 
shire, 135 bushels of shelled corn had been obtained from 
it, and on an average more than 90 bushels per acre. 

The experience of J. W. Colburn, a New Englander, for 
twenty-four years, was, that the best variety came from a 
mixture of the common eight rowed yellow with the Brown 
corn. The Tuscarora Indians, about the year 1853, cultiva 
ted at their reservation in Lewistovvn, Niagara County, New 
York, a singular maize grain they called the Tuscarora White. 
They brought it with them, in 171 2, from North Carolina, 
where a corn of the same name was still cultivated, a quarter 
of a century ago. It had from twelve to sixteen rows ; the 
grains were whitish on the outside. Was said to have 
neither gluten nor oil, being, except the grain, composed of 
dextrine and starch. It was softer, and in some respects, 
better for horses than flint ; it was capital for making starch ; 
the meal was apt to sour, but while sweet, made good bread. 

The Rhode Island corn was probably so called from its 
being a favorite, and yielding heavily in that State. The 
depth and breadth of the grains was about the same, and 
they were full of oil, which, as well as the hull, was trans- 
parent and colorless ; and its white meal was less apt to sour 
than some other esteemed varieties. 

In Connecticut, a mixture of the common Button with a 
very large kind of eight-rowea corn, in planting, the whole 
crop being planted with the two varieties in about equal 
proportions, resulted in very large and long ears of both 
kinds, many fourteen inches long; kernels on eight rowed 
very large, and cob small — those on the twelve-rowed much 
larger than those on the common Button corn. 

In the course of emigration, the New York corn reached 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURK. 147 

Wisconsin, where, in Grant County, it was said to be prefer- 
red; but the experience of the correspondent was, that any 
variety would adapt itself to the climate in a few years, and 
his idea was that the longest cultivated was the best. It is 
pretty evident, however, that it must require very skillful 
cultivation, long continued, to produce an excellent variety 
out of an inferior one. One of the exceptions to the general 
fact that white corn has been preferred for human food, was '' 
that of a correspondent of the Agricultural Department, from 
Monroe County, New York, who stated that yellow was pre 
ferred for the cornmeal ingredient of brown bread. The 
flint varieties seem more proper to the North, although they 
have reached, for partial culture, almost every part of the 
Union. White flint was said by some to be less injured by 
the frost than yellow. Others have stated that yellow flint 
was best for rich bottom land, and was preferred in some 
spots in latitude 40°, as ripening two weeks earlier than any 
other variety, and being less liable to frosts. Some have 
preferred small yellow as being suited for close planting, 
early ripening and easy husking ; and as yielding more corn 
with less labor, especially in an open season ; the average 
produce on good bottom land, with good culture, being stated 
as 100 bushels of shelled corn to the acre. One kind of 
small yellow, however, with a short thick ear, was said to 
mould easily in the husk, in wet weather. 

In Michigan and elsewhere, Northern Dent was in use — 
two-thirds yellow and one-third white Dent — each kernel 
being dented at the top. From latitude 42° to 43° the two 
Dent varieties were gaining on most others above described. 
A correspondent from Venango County, Pennsylvania (41 ^ °) 
provided two varieties of seed: one, the best grown in his 
vicinity, planted, when it could be done, at the proper time ; 
the other, adapted to a cold climate, to be planted when the 
spring had been unfavorable, or there had been a failure of 



148 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTDEK. 

the first planting. At Erie, Pennsylvania, (42") the red cob 
Gourd Seed was said to be the most esteemed variety. This 
is one of the Southern varieties which had been making 
its way Northward slowly, and Westward rapidly. The 
shape of the grain probably suggested its name. At a some- 
what lower latitude, a hybrid between the rough Gourd Seed 
of the South, and Northern flint was an esteemed variety. 
The Gourd Seed was said to accommodate itself in a few 
years to that climate, by becoming dented. The size and 
number of rows increased. It was both yellow and white ; 
the latter being preferred for horses, the yellow for all other 
stock. The Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Institute of 
Science (40°) reported several varieties as being cultivated 
there, more or less approaching to the Gourd Seed character, 
a tendency being observed in all varieties, after a few years 
domestication, to yellow flint— twelve to twenty-four rows — 
more or less pitted, all varieties there assuming that character 
eventually. 

We have now reached the centre of the great maize zone, 
the parallel of 40°. Not but what the future may develop a 
lower parallel; but this seems to be one established for the 
present by the facts of production. It is hard to say whether 
the Dent or the Gourd Seed is most prominent here. The 
flints, of course, either by themselves or mixed with others, 
occupy a position more or less favorable. North, West 
and South. The zone of which we are now speaking covers 
New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, 
Southern Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, 
Illinois, Southern Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and 
Nebraska, and parts of Indian Territory, Northern Arkansas, 
Tennessee and North Carolina. The central line of this 
territory is nearer 39°, but the present centre of actual pro- 
duction is probably nearest 40°, In this region, the Ohio 
valley has done most for maize culture. Many examples 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 149 

might be given of the readiness with which its corn takes 
on the habits of the extreme South, as well as those of 
the North, forming mixed varieties of wonderful productive- 
ness. Many years ago the Baden corn produced a great sen- 
sation among the farmers cultivating the Eastern parts of this 
zone. The method by which this variety was produced was 
similar to that of others who, of late, have introduced new 
varieties. The seed was uniformly selected from stalks bear- 
ing the most well formed ears. Some of the stories told of 
the results seemed very large to those whose practice follow- 
ed the old routine of farming. Probably they were exag- 
gerated ; but very unusual conditions may have united to 
produce those which were true. The method, however, of 
reaching these specimens of high culture has been generally 
recommended. Dr. Muse, of Maryland, said of the Baden, 
that he had tried it for many years, and found it the most 
productive and heavy variety — that is, the Baden white; but 
some kinds passing under that name were very inferior. 
Some of the most approved varieties for this region seem to 
have been natives of Virginia. Virginia White Gourd Seed 
had from twenty-four to thirty-six rows. The color always 
white unless crossed with other kinds. If crossed, it could 
be known by a small indenture in the grains when perfectly 
dried. The ears were not very long, nor so large as the Big 
White. In the Yellow Virginia, the kernels were very long 
and narrow, and of so soft and open a texture that they 
would not bear transportation by sea, unless kiln dried, or 
completely excluded from moist air. The grains at the ex- 
terior ends were flattened and grew so close together, that 
they produced greater yield than any other variety, in pro- 
portion to the size of the ears. Had more starch and less 
gluten and oil than the flint kinds. Their oily and glutinous 
parts always occurred on the elongated side of the grain, 
while the starch projected quite through to the summit, and 



150 IHDIAN CORN AND ITS CtTI-TURE. 

by a contraction in drying, produced the pits and depressions 
peculiar to their ends. This variety was later in ripening, 
though more productive, than any other kind. It was good 
for stock. The Gourd Seed was sweeter and more easily 
masticated than flint. It worked its way, with some success, 
Northward to about latitude 42°, and the yellow kind was 
noticed as being common in New Jersey, Delaware and Penn- 
sylvania, together with the yellow bastard Gourd Seed. New 
Jersey, also, had the eight to twelve-rowed Jersey White. A 
variety produced from the Southern Gourd Seed by gradual 
acclimation was less dented, about half as long, more nutri- 
tious, produced sweeter meal, and had a stalk about half the 
length of the original. The hybrid between Southern Gourd 
Seed and the Northern flint, was an established corn in this 
section. The Dent rather predominated in the heavy corn 
districts, for a considerable time ; but the yellow Gourd Seed 
gained on it, being thought to yield best. In Indiana and 
Illinois, in addition to these, the Hackberry, White Gregory, 
Large Virginia, White Gourd and Arkansas Yellow were 
spoken of as popular varieties, and in Iowa, Yellow Flat. 
Tennessee adopted the Ohio Yellow, Dutton, large Gourd Seed 
and Yellow Gourd. Kentucky had a yellow named after her, 
which was a favorite in Miami County, Ohio, for distillation 
and swine feeding. There were some nondescripts under 
the names of Honey Creek, Keever and BuHskin. A yellow 
in Newport Indiana (40°) was reported as ripening two 
weeks earlier than any other kind. A yellow variety from 
Oregon, sent out by the Patent Office, was a favorite with 
many. Of the yellows, large was stated, by some, to be the 
best for horses, mules and hogs, and small for neat stock. 
Several were fourteen-rowed. Some planted yellow, or yel- 
low flint, on thin land, and reserved the while for the best 
land, including bottom. A correspondent from Hamilton 
County, Ohio, advised the Cincinnati Gazette, in November, 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CnLTURE. 151 

1S71, of a specimen of Mammoth Yellow, with thirty rows 
to the ear, averaging forty grains to a row, in all, 1200 ker- 
nels ; twenty eight ears weighed forty-four pounds, husk and 
shell. 

The Smooth White was said to have a stiffer stalk, less likely 
to break in high winds than any other variety; a quality very 
important in a prairie country. A long variety of that kind, 
ten to thirteen inches, grown on strong land, measured well 
in wagon or barrel, but required a long season, and was very 
liable to frost. The New Mexican White, from the Patent 
Office was reported as planted in Allegheny County, Penn- 
sylvania, in the spring of 1854 with a fair yield. Several 
correspondents speak of white as requiring the best land, 
making large ears, with grain broad, deep and lightly in- 
dented; and when ground, the meal being white, fine flour. 
Of later corns, Lloyd's is said to be a great success — the ear 
eight to thirteen inches long; cob white, one and one-half 
inches in diameter; covered compactly with sixteen to twenty 
rows of grains. Twin corn, a species of white Baden corn, 
similar to the old fashioned Gourd Seed ; six ears known to 
have been gathered from one stalk. Some ears of last crop 
raised upwards of 1200 grains. 

Among the varieties to be seen in the Museum of the Ag- 
ricultural Department at Washington, from Kansas, marked 
as received in 1869, was a dented kind for feeding, about 
ten inches long; a yellow from eight to eleven inches long, 
and two inches in diameter; and one eight-rowed, eleven to 
twelve inches long, with a white cob ; these three coming 
from the State Fair. Several late varieties noticed in the 
agricultural columns of the Cincinnati Weekly Gazette, were 
the Iowa Golden Fleece — a magnificent specimen, and White- 
cap Yellow, from Butler county, Ohio, cultivated at Tuscola, 
Illinois, in 1868; in a backward season ripened early, 
and yielded sixty bushels to the acre, very sound corn ; well 



152 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

adapted to prairie soil. The Large Mammoth grows more 
than twelve feet high, the large ears hanging too high for a 
man to hang his hat on; hills not nearer than four to four 
and one-half feet apart ; two stalks to the hill ; produces 
sixty-four bushels to the acre. Earlier and shorter varieties 
admit of hills three and one-half feet apart, and three or four 
stalks in the hill. The mammoth ears average thirty rows, 
and forty grains in the row. New witnesses testify that yel- 
low corn is best for stock; but that the meal having a rawer 
taste than the white, is less used, and at the South is totally 
rejected for human food. A correspondent from Newtown, 
Indiana, writes that a neighbor sold twenty acres of corn to 
be "hogged down;" six acres of white, the rest yellow; the 
hogs scarcely touched the white till the yellow was all eaten ; 
both were fully ripened. Another witness from Indiana adds 
to the statement, that yellow is sweeter and best for fatting, 
the fact that it makes three pints more whisky (to the bushel) 
than white. Wayne County, Indiana, produced 60 pounds 
to the bushel of Shoe Peg corn — very "yieldy. " The Illi- 
nois premium large yellow yields 85 to 90 bushels to acre — 
very profitable for stock. 

J. S. Learning, of Wilmington, Ohio, advocates Clinton 
corn for seed, and claims that it is two weeks earlier, two 
feet lower, bears closer planting, has a larger heart in the 
grain, feeds farther, has a larger yield to the acre, and is a 
jiurer genuine yellow corn than any other known to its pa- 
trons. Campbell's sixty days corn, Delaware, Ohio, believed 
by some to be the earliest sweet corn, has long ears, large 
grain, small cob and exquisite flavor. Geauga County jRe- 
fuMkan reports 208 bushels, in 1872, raised on one and one- 
sixth acres of ground, of Sanford corn in that County, with- 
out extra culture. 

Of the varieties raised South of what has been marked 
out as the great corn zone, say in latitude 36 to 34°, are 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 153 

mentioned as popular varieties, a mixture of Gourd Seed and 
Kareripe, and the Southern Big Yellow, with long, thick cob; 
grains rather roundish, than deep; the sides falling off to a 
point where the rows unite with each other, giving the out- 
side ends of the grains a circular form, and the ear the 
appearance of a fluted column ; contains less oil and more 
starch than Northern kinds, fed to hogs; mixed with other 
white Gourd Seed. The Southern Small Yellow is of like 
shape, but the ears are slenderer and shorter, and the grain 
smaller, outwardly flinty and firm; is earlier, and sooner out 
of reach of the frosts than Big Yellow ; less productive, but 
more fatting to poultry and swine, and better for shipping. 
Mixed with Big Yellow, produces Virginia Gourd Seed, and 
otl>er large varieties. Southern Big White Flint, in shape and 
size much like Big Yellow, was twelve-rowed, with thick, 
large cob; had more starch and less oil than Northern flint, 
was much softer and better for horses. Its meal soured 
easily, and required kiln drying for shipping. Was less pro- 
lific than white Gourd Seed. Double-eared White, between 
Gourd Seed and Hominy Flint, was firm and heavy. A 
yellow was described as the result of a mixture of White 
Virginia with Southern Big Yellow. Large White was highly 
esteemed for its abundant yield of grain, suffering less from 
the weevil, and making very sweet and white bread; and of 
fodder, the blade having more nutriment than new hay, and 
being the best long feed for horses ; the husks, less relished, 
fed to cows and young mules. These husks were formerly 
much used for mattresses, being cleaner and more easily 
moved than mosses; and mixed with coarse cotton, made 
mattresses little inferior to curled hair. The old fashioned 
Tuscarora had a large, long, white and heavy ear ; the Bear- 
ing was sometimes planted with it, in alternate rows; in due 
time frittering away its tassels, and fixing a large-grained 
kind on the many-grained Bearing cob. The Tuscarora was 



154 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

light, large and productive, with chaffy grain ; could not, for 
its large size, be planted thickly ; was found cultivated on 
the settlement of North Carolina. Best hybridized with 
small flinty corn, A new Tuscarora has a red cob, large 
reddish and white kernels, soft and easily crushed, and much 
starch, and little oil. Seventy-five ears as they come to hand, 
have filled a barrel. The result of an experiment noticed in 
the Columbia (S. C.) Advocate, was said to be, corn meas- 
uring in some instances twelve to thirteen inches in circum- 
ference and twelve to fourteen inches long; from forty to 
forty-eight rows of grains on the ear. This was the yield of 
a single ear to the stalk. The ears which were from stalks 
bearing six ears or more, were smaller ; it was mostly of white 
Gourd Seed, the varieties from which the selection had been 
made being thus described. One was remarkable only 
for grain an inch deep, on a cob of the size of the finger ; 
another for its thick and very short cob, and a third for its 
long, dry and slender cob. Either of the varieties, regard- 
ed singly, or separately, as to its properties, was hardly worth 
planting; but by suitable blending, they were made to pro- 
duce the above described mammoth ear. 

Several correspondents from the Southern States agree in 
stating that white is best for hominy as well as bread ; has 
more extended roots; is more easily raised, and best estab- 
lished. Yellow is preferred by some planters, on account 
of its sound grain, being less apt to rot in the field, and less 
exposed to the ravages of the weevil. All kinds deteriorate 
when grown successively in the same soil; change itself be- 
ing a benefit. The time of ripening was unimportant ; every 
kind planted in May ripening before frost. The weight of 
the corn was also unimportant; twice as much of the lightest 
could be raised on the same ground, as of the heaviest; the 
probable amount of nutrition being about equal in the two 
cases. Some of the best hybrid varieties have been pro- 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 155 

duced by impregnating, wida the pollen of sweet corn, some 
Southern farinaceous variety as the parent stock. 

The kinds -cultivated at Albuquerque, in New Mexico, 
(34-5°) were most akin to those cultivated in the New Eng- 
land States. The stalk did not average over six feet hij^h; 
the cob was large, but unusually long The grain was 
roundish, and the germ of the heart larger in proportion to 
the rest of the grain, and more nutritious than was generally 
the case with varieties produced in the States. Of its colors, 
blue, yellow, white, red and black, blue predominated ; that 
alone being used for tortillas, or corn cakes — the only bread 
there for the table. 

Richard Rouse, of Tappahannock, Virginia, had experi- 
mented for sixty-two years, on varieties of foreign and 
domestic corns, and thought the following corn, as yielding 
more grain to the acre, and more meal to the bushel, than 
any varieties he had experimented on, "increased one-half 
over other varieties." Cob generally red, periphery of ker- 
nel partaking of its color. Some of Mr. Rouse's neighbors 
thought corn on a red cob matured more rapidly ihan one on 
a white one. 

Of the varieties grown between latitude 30° and 33°, 
mixed Gourd Seed and flint, and long Gourd Seed were pre- 
ferred in some quarters. Others thought the Gourd Seed 
objectionable, from its being infested with insects in the field 
and crib. The Spanish Creole was much hardier than com- 
mon Gourd Seed. The St. Antoine was considered by some 
superior to any other grain, growing sixteen to eighteen feet 
high; producing on the same soil 25 to 33 per cent, more; 
standing severe droughts much better; being much larger; 
but was two weeks longer in maturing, than the Gourd Seed. 
Early Ohio Flint was said to have a stalk larger than any 
other variety, and to produce more fodder ; was more sure 
oi maturity, and less injured by drought or excessive moisture. 



150 Indian corx and its culture. 

Tlie varieties thus far described, are those commonly con- 
sumed on the farm or sent to market. 

The Cooley corn was extensively advertised, and sent to 
the U. S. Ag'l Department to be tested, from which sam- 
ples were sent to different parts of the Union, for trial. The 
returns of correspondents, embodying the results, appeared 
in the issue for 1872. It appeared from all the informa- 
tion obtained, that this corn, because of its early maturity, 
and its avoiding the droughts of August, so prejudicial to the 
white corn in the South, and its being more certain of pro- 
duction than large Gourd Seed, though less prolific, was 
desirable in the Southern States. In the Northern and Mid- 
dle States, it did not mature much earlier than yellow Gourd 
Seed, and was f;ir less prolific. The Department also dis- 
tributed, for trial, samples of the Pennsylvania yellow corn, 
which had been raised with great success in Eastern Penn- 
sylvania for some years, being early, prolific, hardy, and 
yielding an abundance of fodder; was a yellow Gourd Seed 
with a red cob ; the ear shaped like the white Gourd Seed 
of the South, but not quite so large, and very much earlier 
in maturing. The returns of correspondents who tried it, 
appeared in the Report for 1872, generally confirming these 
statements of its good qualities, and commending, especially, 
its habits of early maturity. The trials seem to have been 
made chiefly in the Southern States. 

A species of maize from Oregon has a separate husk for 
each kernel. Some have supposed this to be the original 
maize; but this peculiarity may be accounted for by the 
efforts of the plant to resist the coldness of the climate; 
maize being very remarkable for adapting itself to climatic 
conditions. In the Lake Superior region is found a variety 
hardly more than two feet high, with little, rounded, pearly 
grains, flattened and shining, on very small ears. The Man- 
dan corn, {prcccox, of Nuttall) — very low stem — was success- 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 157 

fully cultivated by the aborigines on the Missouri and its 
sources, ripening in a climate where it was supposed no other 
variety could. The Quarantine is said to ripen in forty days. 
The Golden Sioux has been referred to; is twelve-rowed, 
with short, thick cob; the kernel of medium size; was 
obtained from the Sioux Indians. Rice corn, resembling, 
in shape, the grains of rice ; of different hues ; small ear ; 
excels all corns in its quantity of oil, but is so deficient in 
starch that it cannot be made into bread, being dry, like 
sand. It doubtless makes fowls lay. Pop corn, the Zea 
Curagua of botanists, also called Valparaiso corn, is next to 
Rice corn, in abundance of oil and deficiency of starch. It 
is capital for Christmas parties, when well, popped. Corn 
poppers have been invented to facilitate this process. The 
American Cyclopedia says the oily principle is seen in the 
form of fixed oil in dots lodged in six-sided cells, which form 
the cellular tissue of the seed. On taking a thin, longitudi- 
nal section, and submitting it to a high magnifying power ; 
by touching the slide on which the section lies with a solu- 
tion of iodine, the starch will be colored violet, and the 
white, oily parts remain uncolored. The comj^actness and 
hardness of the kernels, in some varieties, is due to this close, 
albuminous, oily structure. The ears as well as the grain of 
Pop corn are small. It easily loses its popping character, 
when mixed with other corn. As Dr. Jackson says, when the 
grain is so heated as to decompose the oil, there is a sudden 
'expansion of gaseous matter which ruptures every cell. This 
takes place at the weakest point of the arch, the whole grain 
being turned inside out. The cells, under the Microscope, 
will now be found torn out of shape. Decomposition of the 
oil forms carburetted hydrogen, with which large cities are 
sometimes lighted. Tuscarora corn cannot pop. 

Dr. Jackson thinks the use of oil in corn is obviously to 
prevent the rapid decomposition of the grain in the soil, and 



]53 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 

to retain a portion of the food till needed by the young plant, 
and is always the last portion of the grain taken up. It serves 
to keep meal from souring readily. Flint cornmealwill keep 
sweet for years, when put up in large quantities. Tuscarora 
meal, so deficient in oil, is good for rapid cooking; its 
meal is easily boiled or baked. After the extraction or 
decomposition of the oil, the substance of the grain is more 
readily digested by man, though less fattening to animals. 

There are many excellent varieties intended especially for 
boiling, or roasting ears; a few only, will be noticed here. 
Sugar or Fappoose corn; said to have been found among 
the Six Nations of Indians on the Susquehanna, and intro- 
duced into Massachusetts in 1779. Generally eight to 
twelve-rowed; ear small, but well proportioned; kernels 
densely packed on the green cob, and then rounded and 
swelling ; but when dry, rough and shriveled ; cob red or 
white; grain abounding in phosphates, sugar and gum, and 
deficient in starch. 

The Darling, named from its originator, the result of sepa- 
ration and selection for six years; three specimens — (i) white, 
smooth grain ; flavor like common sweet corn ; ears seven or 
eight inches long ; fit to boil by iSth of July. (2) Stalk and 
ear somewhat larger and a week later. (3) Eight-rowed ears, 
six inches long, ready for boiling by 18th of July. 

'Y\\Q Eveigreen-y more recent; very delicious when boiled ; 
small stalk; very productive, ripening early; admits of sev- 
eral successive ripenings in a long season. A variety raised 
near the Lakes, the seed of which was from India, is one of 
the testimonies to the fact that the proper Indian corn seldom 
grew over four feet high; the ears set near the ground, sev- 
eral small ones on a stalk; the kernel of the sweet kind 
ripening in six or eight weeks. 

Many experiments have been made with a view to the 
establishment or improvement of varieties; here is one to 



INDIAN CORN AND US CULTURE. 159 

test the comparative merits of several supposed to be already 
established. Prof. Daniels, of the University of Wisconsin, 
gives, in U. S. P. O. Report, 1871, the results of two experi- 
ments on Early Dent, Dutton, Sanford, Cherokee and White 
Australian, and other varieties, with respect to the times of 
first showing ripe ears, times of harvesting and product per 
acre. The Sanford was the last that ripened, and was 
harvested latest, and produced least. The Cherokee was 
next latest in showing ripeness, but, next to White Australian, 
was highest in product. This last ripened eleven days before 
the Cherokee. The Dutton, with two thirds the yield of the 
Australian, had ripe ears six days before the latter. In 
another experiment with seven varieties, his results were : 
Early Yellow Pop ripened the 15th of July; yield, 9.24 bushels 
to acre; Joint Pop, September 15 th, 142/3 bushels; Pearl Pop, 
September 15th, 37 ^/S bushels; Blue Australian, August 27th, 
36^ bushels. This last was produced from bluish kernels 
selected from White Australian, a new kind of flint corn, 
brought to Colorado from Salt Lake about 1866, and was 
said to have come, originally, from Australia; and to be 
peculiarly adapted to high and dry situations. The seed, 
taken from Colorado to Northern Illinois in 1870, ripened in 
ninety-six days ; some of it eight, some twelve-rowed ; very 
soft, and more easily husked than Yellow Dent. Prof. Dan- 
iels thinks it shows indications of a new variety of a character 
not yet fixed. Another experiment to ascertain the best time 
of selecting seed, resulted in favor of ears selected at the 
time of husking, as against those from first ripe ears, the 
product of the latter being about one eighth less. 

Among the foreign varieties, the Chinese Tree corn was, 
many years ago, introduced widely; was said to develop in 
eleven days from planting, and when matured, to yield more 
than most varieties, making the sweetest and best meal; 
abounding in leaves for the very best of fodder ; and when 



IGO INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

sown broadcast for fodder, said to be sweeter, less liable to 
mildew, and, for the same soil and circumstances, worth 25 
per cent, more than other varieties. These commendations 
appeared in the U. S. P. O. 1847. 

The Chinese were said to call maize, Ya-chu-chu; the Jap- 
anese, Nanbamthbi, (corn of new bran) outlandish corn. The 
leading kinds in Mexico (see U. S. P, O. 1847) were these: 

1st. Alaiz de padus, the least important, with small eight- 
rowed ears. 

2d. Maiz manchado Chinesco; productive; having white, 
yellow and red kernels, and sometimes blue. 

3d. Maiz bianco — very productive. 

4th. Maiz amarillo. There are two varieties of this : 
grueso, yields 300 to 600 fold; pcqiieno, smaller, less stout, but 
in a fruitful soil, returns 10 to 15 cwt. more than grueso. 
Tatdio, or riego, most productive of all ; cultivated around 
the City of Mexico, and in many moist districts. 

In Peru, two leading kinds are cultivated : 

ist. Maiz bianco; white corn with very large, coarse, 
inferior grains, rank and strong; for fattening pigs. 

2d. Maiz amarillo \ yellow, large and fine; makes sweet 
bread. 

Chili corn has five good sized ears, set high on a single 
stalk ; needs rich land and high culture. 

In reference to European varieties, Wilson's Cyclopedia 
says that one hundred and thirty varieties were known 
in Spain. The French cultivate a variety resembling our 
Large Yellow. There is a large red resembling this in other 
qualities than color. Maize quarantine, to some degree, is 
raised in England, where it is called the Forty-days corn. 
In lower latitudes, such as the maize district of France, it is 
said to require three months. Cobbett's Indian corn is prob- 
ably the Quarantine. As Lawson describes it, it has a stalk 
about two feet high; an ear averaging four inches; grain 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 161 

yellow, and smaller than that of other varieties. Egyptian 
maize, or chicken corn — in French, called 7naiz a poulet — is 
very small, and very nearly like Cobbett's. These two, in 
1853 were said to be the only varieties fitted for field culture 
in England. The other varieties mentioned by Wilson are 
well known in the United States. 

One of the most important distkictions between maize 
varieties, is that of composition. This will be best illustra- 
ted by the subjoined tables, as well as by some in previous 
pages. In reference to the phosphates, one of the most 
important of the mineral or inorganic elements, (see U. S. 
P. O. 1853) Mr. A. A. Hayes, of Roxbury, and Dr. Charles 
T. Jackson, of Boston, Massachusetts, found that if a "watery 
solution of blue vitriol (sulphate of copper) be applied to a 
kernel of corn, longitudinally split, the germ, or 'chit' only, 
becomes colored green, thereby beautifully defining the 
limits of the phosphates, by the formation of phosphate of 
copper." "If a grain of corn be split open, as above 
described, and thrown into a solution of sulphydrate of am- 
monia, the chit will be changed to a dark, olive color, which 
arises from the change of salts of iron into a sulphuret of 
that metal; a dark colored matter forming with the ammonia, 
turns the vegetable coloring matter yellow, and the two col- 
ors combined produce an olive." By preparing grains as 
above, and soaking in a tincture of iodine, the starch will 
show an intense blue, and the dextrine deep port wine red, 
and both being present, a rich violet. Extract the oil 
through alcohol or ether, from the horny part of the corn, 
and the tincture of iodine will show the starch in the part 
containing the gluten. Take an ear of corn having on it 
grains of two different varieties, as Tuscarora and sweet corn, 
slit the seeds and dip them in the same solution, and the 
sweet will show more than double the quantity of phosphates 
seen in the Tuscarora; the two kinds having derived unequal 
14 



162 / INDIAN CORN AND ITS CrLTURE. "^ 

amounts of phosphates from the same sap, derived from the 
same soil. So a crop of sweet corn will take twice as much 
of the phosphates as the other variety, and will sooner 
exhaust the soil of them The superabundance of the phos- 
phates in Indian corn is sometimes apt, it is supposed by 
some, to supply an excess of bony matter, producing stiff- 
ness in the joints of animals fed too freely on Indian corn. 

Mr. H. Piper, of Biddeford, Maine, explains the hybrid- 
izing of plants, (see U. S. P. O. 1867) as consisting in the 
fertilization of one species, or one of its varieties, with the 
pollen of another species, or one of its varieties, of the same 
or a different genus; the offspring being a hybrid, or mu'e. 
Cross-breeding between plants consists in fertilizing one 
variety with the pollen of another variety of the same species. 
He gives special directions as to the proper time and man- 
ner of effecting this successfully. Great care and skill are 
doubtless requisite, however, in the attempt to blend varie- 
ties; as the mere mixing on the same ear, of those not 
sufficiently harmonizing in development, may only embar- 
rass the movements of vegetation. 

Among the varieties of corn mentioned in an article by 
Mr. Bollman, in one of the U. S. Reports, is the Horsetoolh 
(another name for White Gourd Seed) — thirty-two-rowed. 

He maintains that the less the number of rows, the more 
flinty; the greater the number of rows, the less flinty; that 
the largest kinds are not so productive, as to quantity per 
acre, the smaller and medium kinds yielding most. The 
close planting of the North is contrasted Avith the wide 
planting at the South— four and one-half to five feet apart 
being the common distance in Tennessee. 

In selecting seed corn, it is better taken from the latitude 
where planted. Small early varieties that yield large crops 
in the Eastern States, as the Improved King Philip, often 
yield but moderate crops in the West, and quickly run 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



163 



out. But Cherokee County, Alabama, was reported, in 
1855, as raising two crops of Early Button on the same land, 
in the same season. 

The following lists of varieties of maize include many of 
the specimens seen in the Museum of the Department of 
Agriculture, at Washington City, in 1876; the officers in 
charge siating that a large part of the samples belonging to 
the Museum had been removed to the Government building 
on the Centennial grounds, at Philadelphia. The length and 
diameter of the ears is only given as an approximation, from 
a near view, and not from actual measurement. 

XXXVIII. 



Kinds. 



Length of Diameterof 
Ear, inches Ear, inches. 



No of Rows 



Color, &C. 



Eight-rowed Blacli. 

I'urple 

Amber 

Yellow Flint 

Sparkled 

do 

Wliite 

Sl)arkled 

White Flint 

Fli'it 

do 

Suf-'ar 

Sueet 

Amber Kice 

Amber Flint 

Ked 

do 

Pop 

Eisht-rowed 

Flint — white cob ... 
Dent 

do ..;. 



do 

do 

do 

do 

do 

do 

do 

do 

do 

do 
I'iirk Red.., 

h:\t\v\i 

Pqiniw 

IHnit 

do White 



Yellow , 
do . 
White.. 
Flintv.. 
White.., 



10 

11 to 14 

8 

9 to 14 
11 
13 
12 

9 



1^ 



2'l 



'2"io'2J4 



9 

8 to 12 
15 
6 to 8 



2 to 3 



8 
11 to 13 



lJ^to2 



2>^ 

"iy^io-lA 



2 to 2> 
2 to 3 

2 



'2% 



12 
8 
12 
16 
10 
18 

12 to 20 
12 



24 

24 

24 

18 to 20 

18 to 20 

18 



12 



14 
20 
20 
14 
12 
8 



Flinty. 



Very early. 
]?rom Ohio 



From Colnmhns and 
[West Jersey. 



Kentucky. 

Red cob 

White cob— Ky. 

Flinty -reddish. 

White— red cob. 

Iowa. 

■Red cob. 

From Milford, Ohio. 



Dented- 1809. 
White mid black. 
From Milford, Ohio, 
do do do 



1G4 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 



XXXIX. 



Names. 


l.ength 
of Ear. 
Inches 


Diameter 
of Ear. 
Inches. 


No. of 
Uows. 


Colors. 


Whence received.ic. 


jjeut 


12 

11 

9 to 12 


2 to 3 
2 to 2>2 
Large 


20 

20 

grains. 


High Yellow 




do 




do 


White and yellow 
White 




do 




do long 


14- 

Flinty. 
12 
10 
11 
11 
10 
7 t(j 8 
10 

10 

red and 


23^ 
3 


18 to 20 
18 to 30 
24 to 30 
Vellow 
12 




Milford.Ohio. 






do do 
do 


Light yellow 

& reddish brown. 






Fiintv. 


do 


White 




Uourd Seed 

do 

do [1870.. 
Stowcll ] 


1% to 2 
2 to 3 

l)^to2 

yellow.. 


20 
'""lli" '" 


White 

I'.lue and yellow.. 
White— white col 


Red cob. 

Mi.Ked. 

Higlilands. 


Evergreen J 


24 


.Mixed on ear- .. 









In addition to these were the Prairie AYhite Bread, from 
Illinois; Caragua corn, very large white, with kernel rather 
flat ; Hobson corn, long, narrow kernels ; Button, with 
broad, flat kernels, nearly circular; and Giant corn from 
Franklin County, North Carolina, eight to ten inches to a 
joint, the stalk two and one-half inches in diameter, and 
with four ears on it. 

Three ears of corn shown by W. D. Bailey, and obtained 
from Judge Wm. R. Putnam, of Washingt^on County, Ohio, 
in May, 1876, may be described as follows: 

No. I, Triple corn, about nine inches long, one and one- 
half inches in diameter; white cob; eight to ten-rowed; 
kernels flat, roundish, dented, flinty; small cob; three ears 
to stalk. No. 2, Dented, ten to twelve inches long, two to 
two and one-half inches in diameter; eighteen-rowed; kernels 
yellow at sides — white at top ; longish, closely-packed grains; 
red cob No. 3 has oblong kernels; dark red, with spots in 
streaks of deeper red. 

The following list of varieties mentioned in U. S. P. O. 
Reports, in various counties of the United States, with 
average latitude, colors, number of rows, year of mention, 
&c., may give some idea of the history of varieties. The 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CCLTURE. 



165 



capital letter Y stands for yellow ; W, for white ; G^ for 
Gourd Seed, and F, for flint. The aim is to give the cen- 
tral latitude of the respective counties. 



XL. 



County and State. 



St. Lawrence— New York.. 
Wiimepisseoge — N. H. 
Rockiughiim — New Hamp. 

Ontario— New York., 

(i rail I — Wisconsin 

Miulisoii— New York 

Wayne— Michigan 

Eiie — Pennsylvania 

Barnstable— Massaclmsetts. 

Venango— Pennsylvania 

Adrian— Michigan - 

Hillsiiale- do 

Litchlield— ("onnecticnt 

Br.idford— Pennsylvania 

l-.aPorte— Indiana 

Elkhart— do 

Scott — Iowa 

Washington — Rhode Island 

Bridgeport— Connecticut 

Brooke— Virginia 

Miami — Ohio 

Delaware— Pennsylvania ... 

O.vford— Ohio 

Belpre — do 

Adams — do 

Brown — do 

Madison — Illinois 

iJorchester— Maryland- 

Jefferson City — Missouri ... 

Scott— Kentucky 

Woodford— Kentucky 

Amherst — Virginia 

Buckingham — Virginia 

Mercer- Kentucky 

Warren — Virginia 

(.'umberland- Virginia 

Joiiesboro — Illinois 

Franklin — Virginia 

Jaeksboro — Tennessee 

llalifa.x — Nortii Carolina 

South Carolina 

Sante Fe, New Mexico 

H i lids — M ississippi 

Barbour— Alabama 

Alabama 



Av. Lat 
Degrees 



44y2 
4a?3 

43>4 

42>4 

42 

417^3 

4134 

42 

42 

41?^ 

41i^4 

41;l5 

41% 

417-3 

4134 

413li 

4034 

40 

40 

89)4 

39 

39 

39 

38% 

S834 

3334 

38'4 

38 

37K 

3 '.'2 
3'>8 
3">-8 

37>^ 

37 

3(1 >X 
32-3.5 

32Vi^ 
31 T^ 
30-^) 



Color. 



Yellow 

do 

do 

do and white 



White A yellow 

Velio w 

(jourd Seed. 
Yellow A white 



Wliite ii yellow 
Vellow iJent . . 
White &. yellow 



White <t yellow 

While 

Yellow 

White-cap 

Whiter yellow 

Veilow 

White <t yellow 

Yellow 

White Dent.. . 

Vellow 

White (i Seed 

Yellow 

Wliite & yellow 

do 

do 
White 4 yel. G. 

While G 

G. and Flint.... 
W. A Y. G. Hint 
White & yellow 

do 



White Flint. .. 
Gourd Seed F. 

White 

White 



F Gourd Seed. 
White 



No. of 
Rows 



12-24 
"35"' 



Year 



1848 
1853 
1853 
1850 
1853 
1848 
1H49 
18.50 
1850 
1853 
1853 
185W 
1850 



1850 



1847 



1848 
1871 

1874 



1SC7 



1850 
1850 
18.50 
1850 
18.50 
1851 
lb53 
184S 
1850 



1851 

18.-.( 

is.'->o 

1850 



Qualities. 



Preferred. 

Brown corn. 

Flint. 

Dutton. 

New York corn 

Flint. 

Dent. 

Ked cob. 

Canada. 

liarlv and late. 

Dent, 

Red cob. 

Large. 

Preferred. 

Flint 

R«d cob. 

Dent. 

Large & smalL 

Large. 

Ripens early. 

Large. 

Pitted. 

.iiammoth. 

Crowfoot. 

Equal propor'n 

■■mall 

Flint and G. 



Flint. 

Flint— large. 
Double-eared 
Naiiseniond F. 
Late- large. 
W.— for home. 
Tiis. A Dea- iiig. 
1 Cv^'p grail. s,Ac. 



Klat. 



Tiisfarora flint. 

Suw Eag varu- 

Ltie.-;. 

Early O. flint. 



In accordance with the instructions of the Commissioner 
of Patents, to determine the percentage of starch, dextrine, 
gluten and oil contained in the grain of the King Philip, 
Tuscarora, Wyandott and White Gourd Seed, or Horsetooth 



1G6 



INDIAN COKN AND ITS CULTURE. 



corn, Dr. Charles T. Jackson procured well characterized 
samples and analyzed them chemically, and in addition, de- 
termined the proportion of caseine, albumen and glucose in 
the same grains. In one instance the analysis was entirely 
repeated on a fresh sample of King Philip corn raised the 
previous summer, the first analysis having been made on dry 
seed com. The results of these analyses, which appeared 
in U. S. P. O. for 1857, were as follows: 

ORGANIC ANALYSES OF VARIETIES OF INDIAN CORN IN 1 85 7. 

By Dk, C. T. Jackson, 

XLI. 



Kinds, and State whence derived. 



Jj 








5j — 


P-Q 


a^ 

























p 2. 
-■ CO 


- re 

if 


3 


c 
9 


10.3 


3.6 


4.S 


1.65 


3.0 


62.0 


6.3 


S.2 


3.5 


4.H 


1.7 


3.0 I6(i.3lll.5 


10.0 


■1.0 


.5.1) 


1.5 


2.0 i63.l)'12.S 


l:i.9 


4.2 


hJ) 


1.5 


2.1 !54.5!l7.3 


18.-^ 


2.9 


2.1 


2.05 


1.35 53.5117.5 



5-3 



Wyaiidott, from Washington - ~.. 

Tuscarora, from Massaeliu setts 

King Philip, frum Khixk- Lsluud _ _ 

do do MasMielnisetts.. 

Gourd Seed, or Hor.seluoth, finm Virginia . 



3.3 
1.0 
1.1 
2.0 
l.S 



Two of these have already been described in the previous 
pages. The Doctor gives a very particular description of all 
of them, in connection with his report. The King Philip 
was eight rowed, of moderate size, long ears, slender and 
uniform in size from base to top ; of deep orange color, flinty, 
and very prolific. Keeps sweet when ground into meal; not 
suitable for starch making, nor for rapid cooking, since it is 
very difficult to soften by water. The sample was obtained 
from Braintree. 

The Wyandott was a corn of extraordinary beauty; per- 
fectly milk white; twelve-rowed, of medium size; the grain 
was very soft and starchy, having little cellulose in the 
form of epidermis and oil cells. "Grows admirably in the 
Southern and Middle States, and is especially adapted to the 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



167 



manufacture of starch," affording 50 to 60 per cent. The 
teeth of horses and cows can easily crush it, and its meal is 
easily cooked into puddings and bread, and almost wholly 
digestible. But its meal, like that of the Tuscarora, is more 
apt to become musty and sour than that of the flint kinds, 
and should be kept in the ear until wanted for grinding. 

ANALYSIS OF WYANDOTT VARIETY OF MAIZE. 

Water, separable at 212°, 
Fat oil, soluble in ether, 
Gluten, or Zeine, soluble in alcohol, 
Dextrine, soluble in water, &c. 
Caseine, precipitable by Acetic Acid, 
Albumen, coagulable by heat and alcohol, 
Glucose, (grape sugar) .... 
Starch, deposited from water, 
Cellulose, insoluble matter, 
Undetermined Ash, &c. 

The Tuscarora variety analyzed by Dr. Jackson, was from 
near the borders of Connecticut river, and of the crop of 
1856. It was eight-rowed, with very large grains and very 
small red cob; white kernel, but less pure than the Wyan- 
dott ; raised extensively in New York for starch. Although 
rather a late crop there, it ripens in seasons of average length 
and temperature. 

Gourd Seed, or Horsetooth, from Virginia — crop of 1S57. 
The former name from its resembling Gourd Seed, having a 
prolonged husk ; had not been so thoroughly dried as the 
Tuscarora and Wyandott, which accounts for the larger 
quantity of water it contained. 

It will be observed that the proportions of the nitrogenous 
matters, to those not containing nitrogen, are smaller than in 
the tables given in the first analytical tables including maize. 
in this work. Dr. Salisbury's analyses give a larger propor- 



r cent 


, 15-30 


K 


360 


(C 


4 So 


(( 


1.40 


{( 


2.00 


«i 


I 00 


i( 


.25 


(( 


62.05 


(1 


6.30 


(( 


330 




100.00 



168 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

tion, corresponding more nearly with those of other analysis, 
and very generally quoted as containing the true proportions, 
which will follow the subjoined analyses of corn cobs (made 
by Dr. Jackson) of different varieties of maize. The first ^ 
was an admixture of two varieties of Canada and Red-cap. 
The matter soluble in ether, alcohol and water was found to 
be in the following proportions : In loo grains of the ground 
cob, the whole amount dissolved was 3.145 grains, or about 
3^ per cent of cob. 

A siccative yellow, fixed oil, . • per cent, or grains, 0.323 

Sugar, ....... " " 0.242 

Dextrine, gum, some albumen and extr. matter," " 2,557 

3.122 
Loss ... 0-023 



3-145 

* From Rhode Island — for ash from 1,000 grs. burned, see table 
on next page. , 

The saccharine matter was not crystallized, and wasl 
probably identical with grape sugar, or glucose. 

The importance of the cob analysis results from the 
divided opinions of agriculturalists as to the profit of grind- 
ing up the cobs of ripe corn with the grain, in order to make 
the feed go further ; some maintaining that the feeding value 
of the ear is greatly increased by grinding both together; 
others, that the cob is only fit for fuel; and others, that the 
question is not so much the additional nutriment, as that 
increase of bulk in the food which is most favorable to 
healthy digestion. The greatest value of the cobs, as feed, 
is probably when the ears are only nubbins, and not dead 
ripe; cattle will then eat them greedily without grinding. 
An analysis of the unripened ear, grain and cob separately, 
in this view of the case, might be an. advantage. 

Analysis of the cob of Burr's improved, Avrinkled sweet 
corn — early, cob sliort, &:c. — produced 3^:(per cent, of mat- 
ter soluble in alcohol and boiling water, of which 0.179 per 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



169 



cent was siccative matter; 0,065 sugar; 0.242 brown ex- 
tractive matter ; Dextrine, gum and albuminous matter, 
3.257 ; in all, 3.743 (from 100 grains of cob.) 



ANALYSIS OF ASHES OF COBS OF THE FOLLOWING CORNS. 
XLII. 



Per cent of cob. 



Potash 

ijoda - 

Silica 

Phospliate of Lime 
do of Magnesia! 

Oxide of Iron 

Phosphoric Acid 

Chlorine 

TJnburned t'arbon... 
Carbonic Aciil <4coal 



Sweet 
Corn. 

02581 
0.2104 
0.1250 
0.0521 
0279 
0.0416 
0.0290 
0.0292 



0.0S12 



Marylandi Southernl Tuscaro- 
White. : Red Cob. I ra Cob. 



0.4585 

0.12U 

0.1720 

1 0.0800 



0.0420 
0.0290 
0.0340 
0.2242 

t 0.5872 



Totals Ashes | 8545 | 1.7480 



0.450 

O.220 

103 

to 054 



032 
091 
0.011 



0.389 



0.6430 
0.1970 
0.0714 



...O.OSOO 



OOSOO 

0.0630 

0.14.30 

jafi590 



1.3.50 i 1.5364 



Button. 

0.410 
0.174 
0.135 
0.042 
0.020 
0.038 
023 
049 
0.127 
t 0.255 



1.353 



Grains. 

From 
Rhode 
Island. 



3.204 
492 
0.800 
1.000 
0.260 
0.360 
0.300 
0.198 
1.500 
t 1.388 

9.500 



t Phosphate of lime and magnesia. 
1 Unburned carbon and carbonic acid. 



-Oxide of iron, carbonic acid, and loss. 

t Carbonic acid and loss. 

g U.xide iron, carbonic acid and loss. 

The cob of sweet corn weighed 480 grains — ashes, 4.2 
grains; of Maryland White, 290 grains — ashes, 4 grains; of 
Southern, 560 grains — ashes, 7.6 grains; of Tuscarora, 630 
grains — ashes, 12.2 grains. Of Button, 830 grains, three 
hundred of which dried and powdered yielded on analysis: 
Matter soluble in ether, alcohol and water, about 3^ per cent of 
the cob. 
Fixed drying oil. • . . . grains or per cent, 0.249 

Sugar, do do 0.333 

Dextrine, (gum) albumen and astringent extrac- 
tive matter, do do 2.700 

3.282 
Dr. Salisbury regards Golden Sioux (a bright yellow 
twelve-rowed, passing into fourteen rows) as an improved 
variety of Buel's Button, ripening earlier and having a 
smaller kernel. The white flint was grown on a clay loam, 
and manured in hill with mixed coal ashes and horse dung, 
and ashed with unleached ashes twice. 
15 



170 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



PROXIMATE ORGANIC ANALYSIS OF FIVE VARIETIES OF MAIZE. 
By. Dr. J. H. Salisbury, of Albany, New York. 

XLIII. 





Golden 

Sioiix. 

Per cent. 


Ohio 

Dent. 

Per cent. 


Small 
8-rowed. 
Per cent. 


White 

Flint. 

Per cent. 


Large 
8-rowed 
Yellow. 
Per cent. 


Starch 


36.06 
5.00 

3 44 

4 42 
1 92 
1.30 

18. .50 
7.25 
15.02 


41.85 
4 62 
3.88 
2.64 
3.32 
5.40 
21,36 
10.00 
10.00 


30.290 
5.000 
3.900 
6.000 
2.200 
4.615 

26.800 
5 200 

13.400 


40. .34 
7.09 
4.68 
3.40 
0.50 
2.90 

18.01 
8.30 

14.00 


49 22 


Gluten - 

Oil 


5.40 
3.71 




3 32 


Casein _ 

Dextrine 


0.75 
1.89 


Fibre 


11.96 


Pu^arand extractive matter... 
Water 


9 55 
14 00 


Totals 


100.05 


101.07 


98.005 


99.72 


99 80 



ANALYSES OF THE ASH OF WHITE FLINT CORN. 
By Dr. J. H. Salisbury. 

XLIV. 





Cut, August 22d. 




Ash of Kernels. 


Leaves. 


Cob, 




9.500 

35.500 

0.160 

2 410 

23.920 

22 .590 

405 

4.385 

0.367 


53 5.50 
19 2.50 
6.092 
1.2.^0 
12.762 
8 512 
9.762 
4.1S5 


13.600 


Alkaline and earthy phosphates 


23.924 
0.300 




0.900 


Potash ~ 


35.802 
5.914 




0.132 


Sulphuric Acid 


0.345 
2 314 


Carbonic Acid 




6 134 


Total 


99.237 


101.371 


89.365 



The above shows that the same plant may take up and 
assimilate a greater amount of inorganic matter under some 
circumstances, than others. This corn, besides being sup- 
plied with manure of the horse, mixed with coal ashes in t'-ie 
hill, was ashed with unleached ashes. Result, very sound, 
hard grain. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 171 

In the table of Dr. Salisbury's organic analysis, the large 
eight-rowed yellow had the most starch, the analyst remark- 
ing that part of it may be set down as adhesive albumen. 
The nitrogenous elements are probably 12 per cent. The 
proportion of sugar is nearly that of Ohio Dent, which has 
the largest. The white flint has considerably the most oil, 
although third in amount of starch, and has nearly 12 per 
cent, of nitrogenous matters; gluten being the largest of 
them, and larger than in either of the other varieties. Take 
it all round, this is probably the richest of the specimens. 
The small eight rowed yellow has much the most nitrogen- 
ous, or technically nutritive matters, (the amounts of albumen 
and caseine being especially large) and much the least starch 
and sugar. Its fiber is much the largest. These corns 
seem to be all from the North, except the Ohio Dent. On 
the other hand, Dr. Jackson's specimens are all of Southern 
or Western origin, except the King Philip; the Tuscarora, 
though raised near the Connecticut river, still showing 
strongly marked Southern qualities. The assertion that it 
had neither gluten nor oil, (referred to in page 146) is here 
negatived ; although the amount is quite small, compared 
with that of some other varieties. 

Dr. Salisbury is pre-eminent as an analyst. His chemical 
investigations, in connection with the maize plant, covered 
two hundred pages in the volume for 1848, of the New York 
State Agricultural Society, for which the society awarded 
him a premium of $300. The analyses of maize in Prof. 
Emmons' "New York Agriculture" are by Dr. Salisbury. 

The above account of sayings and doings, as to the 
varieties of maize, is strongly suggestive of the greatness, 
past, present and to come, of the United States as an 
agricultural region. Here is a plant, which, at the sources 
of the Mississippi farthest North, hardly grows over two feet 
high, with an ear scarcely larger than the smallest finger. 



172 IXBIA.V CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

which goes on Southward increasing in stature, till near the 
mouth of this "Father of waters" it reaches the height of 
eighteen feet. The ear begins on the coast of Maine with 
the predominating eight rows, and in its South-Western pro- 
gress towards the Gulf takes on more and more, till in some 
l^laces it has attained forty. Going West, it has put on nearly 
all the shades of color in turn, from snow white to light red, 
and from golden yellow to pure black. In its different varie- 
ties, and different stages of growth, it makes the humblest 
and grossest of domestic animals an efficient worker in pro- 
ducing the cured meats that are acceptable in all lands, and 
the herds that roam over our pastures abound in the milk and 
butter that are a source of cheer on all our tables, and sup- 
plies the choice luxury of our summer harvests and winter 
holidays. But the best of it is that, when well conducted, 
its culture in different forms, and in its many varieties, helps 
out all other growths prized by civilization. The importance 
of the subject of varieties is evident from nature's great fact 
that every plant produces its like, or from those best of words, 
that "a good tree brings forth good fruit." The value of a 
full range of facts and theories, from which to deduce con- 
clusions is also evident from that old proverb so true in all 
kinds of republics, and especially that of science, that in a 
multitude of counsellors there is safety. But every farmer 
should so study them as to form his own conclusions, for the 
simple reason that the conditions of his crop may be in some 
respects different from all others known to him. And herein 
appears the value of a long continued culture of the same 
tract of land. Good eyes well used, and a clear head may 
make the cultivator, of twenty or thirty years continuance, 
very familiar with the capabilities and wants of any given 
number of acres which he has tilled thoroughly. And if he 
uniformly selects, at the best time, the best seed from his own 
liarvest, and preserves it in the best manner, and plants the 



INDIAX CORN' AND ITS CULTURE. 



best portions of it, and has a good variety to begin with, he 
•will go far towards producing the best variety for his farm. 
But his best seed may, in some cases, be improved by a 
blending with other choice varieties ; and the changes of 
the seasons often make it important to have two different 
plantings, an early and late one, and in very unfavorable 
seasons to have a variety not suited to the habits of his own 
choice variety. In trying a new one, he will be safe in 
beginning on a small scale. Eut a first trial may not deter- 
mine the value of the new seed, even for his own land, much 
less its average value. The merits of a variety very widely 
advertised will probably be fairly tested much sooner than 
one that passes quiedy into a few hands. But of course there 
is danger of counterfeits, where the true variety is a good 
one. As it is the fashion of advertisers to make the best of 
their own hobbies, and there may be a dozen in the market, 
each one of which is claimed as the very best, it might be 
well for a club of farmers in the same neighborhood to do a 
little experimenting on all of them that promise to begenuine, 
and so lessen the difficulty of selection, by division of labor. 
The Agricultural Department, at Washington, often does the 
farming interest great service, by securing a fair trial for new 
varieties, on a scale very widely extended. 

As a recapitulation of the conditions which affect the value 
of maize varieties, may be mentioned the climate, the surface 
and the soil of the given region; the height and robustness 
of the stalk ; the size, color, shape and composition of tiie 
grains and the cob, the number of rows in which they are 
arranged, and their capacity of withstanding early and late 
frosts ; their fitness for the various uses already or hereafter 
to l)e described, and for preservation and transportation. 

Their capacity for producing the best and richest fodder, 
green or dry, is also an important element in the best va- 
rieties. 



174 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



The tendency of different corns planted near each other 
to intermingle, has been very generally remarked. When a 
good variety has been established, great pains should be 
taken to keep it pure and unmixed. Two cornfields planted 
with different varieties should be widely separated, unless 
the farmer desires an intermixture. It has been said of pop 
corn especially, that if planted in the vicinity of other corn, 
it will be apt to lose its peculiar character. The old rule is 
nowhere more applicable than in the matter of seed corn, 
" prove all things, and hold fast to that which is good. " 

At the experimental farm of the University of Wisconsin, 
in tlie fall of 187 1, " characterized as a dry season, 100 lbs. 
in the ear of each of the seven varieties of corn named be- 
low, were taken at husking, then in good cribbing condition, 
dry enough to allow 500 bushels to be stored in a good crib 
without risk of heating, or moulding," and the whole dried 
on a loft. Corn shelled Jany 2 and 3, 1872, dry enough to 
put in large bins without damage. The following table 
gives weight per bushel of corn in the ear, at storing and 
shelling, with proportion of shelled corn &c. 

XLV. 



Varieties. 



K;ir y Yellow Dent. 
I'UltOll. 

( 'lionikee 

Wliiit; Australian .., 

Siiiifoni 

IV'iiil I'op 

Jiiiiit Fop 






Average. 



100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 

100 



5 £ 
To 2. 



97^4 

90 
91}^ 

9r,t4 



or-, 



74 



!.rD 



Is ? : 



3c= 

^ - ^ 
""tea 

• — "fC 



70,00 

74 (it; 
7r>.7i 
C9. r,f, 

77.77 

7;vo^ 

76.19 



•3.G9 



JC O O ixl 



CS.45 
72.82 

71.1.T 

07. as 

71 l.T 

70.18 
70.47 



70.23 



X '-i 






OK 



73 



74 



76 



1.= ^ 



82 
77 
79 
84 
79 
80 
79 



Tlie Cherokee ami Sauford varieties are late at this place, the Sanford giving 
but a moderate yield. 



INDIAN COEN AND ITS CULTURE. 175 



CHAPTER VII. 

USES OF MAIZE — I, FOOD — II, SUGAR AND SYRUP — III, WHISKY. 
IV, STARCH — V, GIL — VI, MATTRESSES — VII, PAPER. 

I, Food. » 

(a). Food for the soil. — The culture of the maize plant is 
capital for the soil. This is evident from the analyses which 
have been given of the stalk, leaves and cob, and of the ash 
of the grains. These contain large proportions of potash, 
soda, phosphoric acid, silica and magnesia, and smaller ones 
of lime, iron, sulphuric acid and chlorine. Especially do 
the breaking up and turning over, mellowing and repeated 
stirring of the corn field, make it receive more largely than 
fields of other grain, the elements of growth from without, and 
modify its own native stores within, to subserve the uses of 
cultivated plants. Then it is sometimes sown thickly, to be 
plowed in like clover and buckwheat. Green and ripe stalks, 
plowed under, not only restore fertility to the soil, but make 
it light, porous and mellow. A farmer in Orleans County, 
New York, preferred it to clover for this purpose. When 
sown for a soiling crop, or exclusively for fodder, the ground 
is filled with roots, which, broken up after harvest, make 
capital provision for the next crop. Even the stubble of a 
regular grain and fodder crop may be made too valuable for 
keeping up the soil, to be removed by burning. Of two 
neighboring Illinois farmers, cultivators of corn, A gathered 
every year, his cornstalks in a pile and burned them ; and, 
also burnt over his stubble before plowing. B never allowed 
a stalk or straw to be burned, but always plowed it under ; 
and after fifteen years the yield of A's crop was less, by fifteen 
bushels to an acre, than when he began cultivating it. B's 



176 INDIAN CORX AND ITS CULTURE. 

crop was as abundant as at first. Indian corn, being a 
gross feeder, has a great advantage as a renewing crop. It 
is not at all dainty as to amount or quality of the usual fertil- 
izing substances, supplied at the proper time. Yet it can be 
p(. iioned by the e.Kcess of certain very concentrated manures. 
It is very common in some places to give the barnyard and 
other coarse manures, for a whole rotation, to the corn crop. 
The waste stalks left by cattle in consuming their rations of 
fodder, are excellent as absorbents and preservatives of 
liquid manures. Sometimes they are corded up, after being 
under feet of the cattle, in layers with other fertilizers, and 
kept wet with manurial liquids; sometimes mixed in stables 
with droppings of the cattle, and thrown down into a ma- 
nure cellar. Often the cattle yard is so excavated, as to 
throw the liquids into the center, where the waste stalks 
and other refuse are crowded. Corn fed to hogs is a great 
source of manure. No animal is more skillful or indus- 
trious in composting manures, when supplied with proper- 
material. 

Some twenty five years ago, the U. S. P. O. Commissioner 
issued a series of questions to his correspondents, including 
one as to the average result of swinish activity in making 
manure, while consuming a specific amount of corn. Mon- 
roe County, New York, answered, that manure from hogs 
consuming ten bushels of corn, increased the crop two to 
three bushels, according to one statement; and according to 
another, 15 to 20 per cent. That is, if a hog was bedded 
with sufficient straw or other vegetable refuse to absorb the 
entire product of the animal, and was properly secured 
against the elements, and the manure thus made was judi- 
ciously applied to an acre of corn on poor or worn out land. 
From a warmer latitude it was reported that twenty bushels 
of corn, consumed by hogs, produced ten loads of manure, 
adding to the crop 25 to 30 per cent. From Ashland County, 



INDIAN CORX AND ITS CULTURE. 177 

Ohio, was reported a gain of two bushels to the acre. From 
Talladega County, Alabama, the manure from twenty bush- 
els fed to hogs, was reported as adding 60 per cent, to the 
crop on an acre. A statement from LaPorte, Indiana, goes 
more into detail. A full grown pig being enclosed in a yard 
about eighty days, consuming ten bushels of corn, with no 
drink but water; the whole yard being under co"er, and 
secured from drainage 3 muck supplied to receive all drop- 
pings, liquid and solid, which in ten days are removed to a 
heap, under cover, and replaced by muck in the yard, which 
at the expiration of the next ten days is also removed to the 
heap, and so on till eight loads are saturated ; and after slight 
fermentation applied to half an acre and covered ; as the re- 
sult, that half acre is supposed to produce ten bushels more 
corn than the adjoining half acre unmanured ; thus making 
the value of the manure from the hog in proper condition, 
equal to the cost of the food. 

It is evident that the effect on the crop, of the manure so 
made, would be modified by the breed of the hog, the qual- 
ity of the corn, the climate, the season, and the quantity and 
manurial value of the vegetable matter worked up, and the 
manner of its application to the land. 

Another use of maize in improving the soil, where land is 
cheap and labor dear, and the market not so accessible as 
to render the crop profitable as corn, is the practice of 
"hogging down." In some of the Western States this is 
quite common. A Missourian after stating from experience 
and observation, his belief that no ground or cooked corn 
would fatten hogs faster than green corn in the field, just 
after the milky stage, adds, that he had raised eight succes- 
sive crops of corn on the same field, and fed it down with 
hogs ; the last the heaviest he ever saw. 

The hogs are turned into the fields when it is not too wet. 
Some turn in the cattle first; the fields being either sepa- 



178 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

rate originally, or made so by temporary fences. The cattle 
devour what they wish of the corn, and the best of the fod- 
der ; often eating cob and all, when the corn is soft. They 
are then changed to another field, and the hogs turned in to 
clean up after them, which they do very effectually, even 
taking a special liking, it is said, to that which has passed 
the cattle undigested. 

Thus the soil is fertilized, not only by the stalks trodden 
into it, but by the droppings of both cattle and hogs, and 
becomes permanent corn ground, while this system con- 
tinues. 

A Rush County Indianian states that after a field of corn 
has been gathered by hogs, if it is broken up for wheat, it al- 
ways brings an extraordinary crop. 

(b), Feeding domestic animals and poultry on Indian corn 
is very extensively practiced. It is fed in the young stalk, 
in the ear, and in fodder from the ripened plant ; and in 
fodder from the corn sown or planted so thick, that little or 
none of it ripens. Young growing corn, as many a farmer 
knows by sad experience, is a great temptation to horned 
cattle. This fact goes far to justify the practice of soiling, 
of late so common in the East ; especially when the ear be- 
gins to form. On some farms nearly all the feeding is done 
in this way. There being one strong fence around the 
whole farm, and one round the ample cattle yard, the usual 
inside fences are saved. The corn is cut green, and carried 
to them, 

Josiah Quincy of Boston, was one of the first in this coun- 
try, who made the plan a success. 

But before giving the views of distinguished farmers on 
this subject, we will gather from the U. S. Reports a few 
facts as to the digestive organs and processes of the several 
domestic animals. As horses and oxen in active service 
require concentrated food to repair the waste of their mus- 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 179 

cles, there seems no reason why soiHng as a complete sys- 
tem, should apply to them. The horse has but one stom- 
ach, and that a small one, but he has very large intestines, 
and the rapid and continued action of his digestive powers 
makes him hot blooded, and he can work on a full stomach 
better than the ox. In the pasture he is continually feeding, 
and very choice, taking in a little at a time. His molar 
teeth are less cutting than those of the ox, but are formed 
for grinding, the lower jaw teeth being narrower than those 
of the upper, so as to move from side to side ; thus triturat- 
ing the grain. The four stomachs of the ox are very much 
fitter for digesting coarse provender, but that digestion is 
more exhausting to his energies, and when he pulls hard, he 
is entitled to grain as well as fodder. If the cows four 
stomachs are loaded with coarse food, difficult of digestion, 
the energy spent in reducing it will be so much lost to the 
milk. Green food, more than dry, resembles cooked food. 
In the full grown ox or sheep, the first stomach is most ca- 
pacious, and the food after passing through the others is re- 
turned to the first to be further reduced during rumination. 
The esophagus which conveys food to the first stomach, is 
supplied near its lower end with muscles for that purpose. 
But the fourth stomach is largest in the young calf or lamb, 
because the milk, its main food, only needs one stomach to 
change it into chyle. If the cow is worked like the ox, as 
in some parts of Germany, she will require similar food. If 
she is kept for her milk, the food must be such as to make it 
flow ; something bulky, nutritive, and easily digestible, dh 
the green cornstalk when the ear is beginning to form. If 
soiling is well adapted to the feeding of domestic animals not 
kept for active service, it is especially a dairyman's resource. 
It is also better suited for Eastern or suburban dairying than 
for that of broad acres of cheap land and high labor. The 
subject has been thoroughly discussed in Eastern journals, 



180 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

and at meetings of Dairymen's associations •; the chief objec- 
tion being the supposed watery character of food used in 
soiling, and the want of green chlorophyll in the plant, re- 
sulting from shutting out the sun by too thick sowing. 

Joseph Harris, in an address before the Dairyman's Asso- 
ciation at Utica, N. Y., in 1871, said the question was 
whetlier the corn was succulent, easily digested, sweet and 
nutritious. Before coming to ear, it would not be sufficiently 
concentratf d. Take away one third of the water, and one 
third of the woody fiber, and the remainder would be of 
much greater value than the whole. The water could be 
easily got rid of, and the excess of bulk over the desired 
standard could be reduced by the addition of sufficient corn 
meal. The President of the same association reported its de- 
cision, after a full discussion, bringing into view a great 
number of trials by practical men, that green corn was a val- 
uable crop as summer food for cows, and useful, whatever 
plan was taken for raising it; its additional advantages being, 
that the same ground could be used for a series of years ; its 
taking less manure to keep up needed fertility, than to pre- 
pare new ground ; and its enabling one to put the crop on 
land conveniently situated. The dense growth of corn 
keeps it clear of weeds, and leaves the ground ready for a 
new crop. Most useful to farmers in New York, if fed to 
cows, in August or September, when the pastures are short. 
The cows then put up and fed with corn fodder, would enjoy 
the change from the heat and exhaustion of summer, and gain 
rew vigor. Meanwhile the cooler nights and increasing 
moisture would renew the pastures for thiirfall feeding, and 
the ruinous fall pasturing of meadows would be avoided. 

Dr. Salisbury's analysis of the corn plant at different 
stages of growth may help to show the proper time of cut- 
ting the green crop. He found that on June 3d., fifteen 
days after planting, the stalk had 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 181 

or water in lOO parts, . . 89.62 parts, ; of dry matter, 10.374 parts. 
July 5th., the stalk had water 90.518 •' " 9.482 " 

July 26 " " S2.33 " '« 17.66 " 

July 12 the root had water 81026 " " 18.974 " 

As late as the time of tasseling, the water in different 
parts of the maize plant was : in the leaves 86.78, sheaths 
91.48, stalks 95.03, husks 89,08. This analysis of the plant 
just before the formation of the ear, gave in 100 parts, sugar 
and extract 35, matter extracted from fiber by solution of 
potash 12, dextrine and gum 6.04, albumen and caseine 7 96, 
woody fiber 39; calculated without water. (U. S. Agricul- 
tural Report, 1870.) 

The Dr's. conclusion as to its value as fodder was : "the 
plant during tasseling, owing to the large percentage of 
sugar and extract, with the respectable quantity of albu- 
minous matter and dextrine, which the stalk, leaves and 
sheaths contain, must afford a very palatable as well as nu- 
tritious fodder." The sweet corn seems more prized fur 
soiling than other varieties. 

The few cases reported of the failure of green corn fod- 
der as food for milch cows, were probably due to planting 
so thickly as to keep but the sun and air. One farmer who 
tried broad-cast sowing, found it better to plant in rows 
three feet apart, and in hills one foot apart in the rows, 
dropping three or four kernels in the hill. 

The green, juicy state of the stalks at the time of blossom- 
ing is supposed to indicate the proper time for cutting, in 
order to make more and better milk. Farmers in Massa- 
chusetts and Michigan have added their testimony to that of 
New Yorkers as to its value. One dairyman in June 1868 
sowed an acre in drills and begaii cutting on July ist. for 
twenty-six cows daily. During September rains he omitted 
the corn fodder for some days, when the milk fell off 52lbs. 
per day. After four days he fed the corn fodder, and the 
cattle regained their yield. 



182 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

Fodder in a dry state is of two kinds. First, that sown ex- 
pressly for the stalks and leaves ; second, that which remains 
after the ear is husked out of the ripened plant. The first, 
from proper seed, and properly grown, is an excellent winter 
resource for the farmer who adopts the system of soiling. Its 
excellence for milch cows has been long established, and it 
is relished by other cattle, liorses and sheep. It is the corn 
hay, having distributed through it the greater part of the 
nutriment that would have gone into the grain, had its con- 
ditions of planting admitted of earing. When this crop, 
from the best seed, has been well managed, and the season 
has been favorable, it is fully equal to the best hay, and a 
much larger product is obtained from an acre. Including 
the imperfectly grown crops, the statements show that its 
proportion of value per ton, as compared with good hay, 
is as one half to one, with a much larger product. This 
will appear from the facts to be shown in discussing the 
methods of culture and curing. 

Cattle have a preference for sweet co'-n, but flint ^md 
other kinds are sown; some maintaining that the larger sorts 
planted thickly, produce butts more easily masticated. But 
the habit of tall growing seems unfavorable for the free ad- 
mission of sun and air. Probably the Northern seed pro- 
duces the best crop at the North, though the Southern and 
Western, if not too slow in growing, may produce a more 
bulky one. Of course very much depends on the variety. 

This fodder is not only of great service in the winter, but 
in those sections, as in some parts of the South, where grass, 
at least in the form of hay, is not one of the staples, it is of 
the greatest advantage as fall feed. It is considered one of 
the most profitable crops. It may be fed out of the stack 
like other hay, or cut fine and mixed with corn meal or 
other ground grains, or chopped vegetables, or it may be 
compressed, or steamed, and fed in suitable troughs. Steam- 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 183 

ing is one of the latest and probably one of the best meth- 
ods, but it is less necessary for this than for the fodder of the 
corn grain crop. It is a very healthy and nourishing, as 
well as palatable food for domestic animals. 

To show the nature of some of the speculations of ingeni- 
ous writers on the effect of these fodders, we give the sub- 
stance of some portions of an article in U. S. P. O. 1847. 

Those proximate constituents of plants containing nitro- 
gen are the best food for animals, next those containing car- 
bon, last those containing mineral matters. All the usual 
fodder substances for cattle contain all three, but in very 
different proportions. Their vitality takes up only the sub- 
stances adapted to their species. The power of selection 
in the same species works according to rule. When the 
functions of the plant are undisturbed, it always produces 
the same quality, but not always the same proportionate 
quantity of the elements peculiar to the kind and species. 
The proportionate quantity may depend on a multitude of 
modifications not sufficiently known. 

The capacity for nutrition among the proximate elements 
varies essentially, and the nutritive powers among themselves 
and with respect to each other have not yet been estimated 
by any sure method. The nitrogen of the vegetable con- 
stituents produces, by assimilation, only combinations of pro- 
ducts containing nitrogen ; carbon, only those containing car- 
bon ; mineral ones, only those containing minerals. Now he 
who wishes to fatten, stores up what carbon will form fat, 
and must provide also the nitrogen required to form the flesh 
to hold the fat; and the material for this must be in the fod- 
der. For his hard working oxen he must look out for fodder 
containing nitrogen in the solid form. Certain foods agree 
or disagree, as a peculiarity, in respect to nutritiousness or 
power of assimilation, say with horned cattle, and have a 
different value for horses. To know the constituents of a 



181 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

given fodder stuff is especially important with respect to the 
object in view. For the nutriment and power of being as- 
similated, of a fodder containing much carbon and little 
nitrogen, may be greatly increased by adding one containing 
more nitrogen, because the different parts intended to be 
formed in animals by fodder, can only be formed, when the 
simple constituents absolutely required for their formation 
exist in the fodder in form and quantity. In consequence of 
the insufficient form or quantity of a single indespensable 
constituent in fodder, all the other elements found in the fod- 
der, which might be otherwise employed in the formation of 
animal substances, are cast out as useless by the excrements. 
There are different degrees of capacity of assimilation in ani- 
mals, according to the standard of different species, and also 
in reference to individual y>o\^qx of appropriation; but in no 
case is there capacity to appropriate all the nutritious sub- 
stances in a fodder, though they may accord ever so closely 
with the objects in view, in reference to their separate 
elements. For in that case the manure would be worthless. 
Also if any one so combines fodder stuffs, that in respect to 
the constituent parts, as well as in regard to the form and 
quantity, they bear the best proportion to the elements 
of that which is to be produced in the way of assimilation, 
he can also attain in the object in view, the best increase cor- 
responding to the particular capacity of appropriation pos- 
sessed by the animal. * 5i>' * * 

Their form also, their volume, and the preparation with 
Avhich nutritious substances are given to animals, exercise an 
influence on their greater or less nutritiousness. The raw, 
solid form excites more the organs of digestion, than the fluid 
or prepared, and is on the contrary less easily assimilated. 
The raw, solid form is much better adapted to the endurance 
of labor; the fluid, prepared form to increased production of 
flesh, fat or milk. Food stuffs little nutritive, in large vol- 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 185 

ume, may, with suitable preparation, be fed out mixed 
with those which are corresponding, but very nutritious — if 
food which increases the product is desired for them. The 
nutritiousness of grain is increased by bruising, fermentation, 
baking into bread, and cooking ; that of raw stuffs by steam- 
ing, bruising and self-heating ; that of turnips and cabbages 
by pickling. All substances gain by saturation or mixture 
with salt. On the whole it appears that no definite and 
correct rules can be given in all circumstances ; consequently 
the ascertaining the nutritious constituents by analyses, can 
the less furnish a sure point of support, as analyses give re- 
sults greatly varying from each other ; and the analyses into 
the remoter or simple elements do not prove that the sub- 
stances, to be regarded as nutritious, also exist in a form ca- 
pable of assimilation in fodder stuffs ; for we may consider 
almost all plants which contain nitre as nutritious, because 
this substance contains nitrogen. The practical use of analy- 
sis is in its accurate arithmetical application to the attain- 
ment of definitely proposed results. 

The above is in the German style of abstract speculation, 
but contains some practical suggestions worthy of special 
notice. 

One of the above expressions might be excepted to; that 
almost all plants which contain nitre are nutritious because 
nitre contains nitrogen. If we are to believe Prof. Liebig, 
who has done quite as much as any other man in raising the 
reputation of the nitrogenized elements as sources of nu- 
trition, it is not the fact that a substance contains nitrogen, 
that makes it technically nutritious, but its nitrogen being in 
that proportion to carbon, oxygen and hydrogen, which is 
found in albumen, fibrine and caseine. The writer of the 
above himself refers to the form, as well as the substance as 
being required to be true, in order to complete the nutritious- 
ness of any article of food. In regard to analyses ; if they 
IG 



186 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTIFRE, 

do vary, and if they do not furnish an absokite sure ground 
of support for agricultural calculations, they are no worse off 
than great numbers of bases of calculation and action in 
scientific matters, as well as in affairs of every day life. No 
child would ever learn to walk, if he would in all cases, be- 
fore setting down his foot, calculate whether it would touch 
an absolutely sure ground of support. Analyses may be very 
useful as aids to agricultural enquirers, without being step- 
ping stones to reach the most bountiful crops, or reap the 
largest profits. Geometry was a science more than two 
thousand years ago, and if the circle, the measurements of 
which occupy so large a place in the world's affairs, has had 
any other squaring than that of approximations, it must have 
been a very recent achievement. Chemistry was hardly a 
science one hundred years ago, and what a revolution it has 
made in the progress of the arts! The aids it has furnished 
through analyses, have been among its greatest triumphs. 

One great advantage of the maize plant is that it may be 
grown successfully for the fodder where the climate will not 
admit of the grain being a sure crop, as in some parts of Can- 
ada and Northern Germany. In some districts where the 
ripening is merely uncertain, the planting may be for the 
grain, and if the season proves unfavorable, the cutting up 
may be for the fodder only. In this way perhaps larger va- 
rieties may be gradually acclimated further North. 

Maize grown for the fodder is a large item in the agricul- 
ture of Cuba. 

Fodder from the regular gtaiii crop is a very important pro- 
duct. It is of two kinds — First, what is cut or stripped off 
from the plant in the act of topping, the ear being left on the 
lower part of the stalk to ripen ; second, the whole stalk cut 
near the ground, and generally cured in the shock with the 
ear on it, which is husked out. Much has been written as to 
the respective advantages of these two methods, which will 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 187 

be considered hereinafter. The second is the younger 
method, and has been gaining on the first for a great many 
years, and since the introduction of machines for cutting up 
corn, is probably destined to supersede it almost entirely, for 
general cropping. It was formerly supposed that the quality 
of the tops and leaves was very much better when removed 
at that stage which would admit of the ear ripening on the 
remnant of the stalk left standing. That would be true 
enough if the fodder was mainly considered, but very doubt- 
ful if the weight of the grain and its complete ripeness were 
the main points. According to the first method, the tops 
were the best fodder at the North, and the leaves at the 
^'outh. Some eastern men who have practiced this method 
of late, have contrived to utilize the butts, after the final har- 
vest of the grain, by salting &c., mixing them in this state 
with more nutritious kinds of feed, such as sheaf oats. Dr. 
Nichols, near Boston, tried this and found that only a small 
portion of the butts was rejected by the cattle to which he fed 
them. He found considerable nutriment in them; the only 
difficulty being their solidity ; but steaming reduced this so 
much that the entire stalk was eaten with avidity. It might 
be very different with the butts of the tall, heavy stalks of 
the South. 

The time of topping is an important condition of the use- 
fulness of this kind of fodder. Mr. Evans, author of Agri- 
culture in Canada, gives as the rule to be followed, — when 
on stripping the husks open a little at the top of the ears, the 
grain is found to be hard, but not hard enough to grind, as 
when dry, but hard enough to resist the strong pressure of 
the thumb nail ; when the farina has quilted the tassel, which 
is dead and dry ; and when the ends of the silk are perfectly 
dead, appearing withered and brown. When these signs 
appear, he maintains that tlie fops and blades have perform- 
ed their office, and the sooner taken away the better, '^ecause 



188 INDIAN CORN' AND ITS CVLTLRE. 

afterwards they do no good, and only serve to retard tne 
ripening of the ears, by excluding in part the sun and wind. 
But probably in most maize latitudes, this would only hold 
t ue in part. The tops and leaves were laid in bunches or 
bundles, in the intervals to dry ; and when cured, carried 
away and stacked, or set up or mowed in the barn for the 
cattle. In the United States they were considered nearly or 
quite equal to hay, but Mr. Evans thought they came far 
short of that in Canada. 

The time for cutting off the tops mentioned in the Scotch 
Rural Encyclopedia, is substantially the same as in Evar.s, 
and includes the indications referred to by correspondents of 
U. S. P.O. from latitude 46" to 39° in 1851 except one — 
when corn is in milk. The same work says they are of more 
or less value according to the weather while curing. Cob- 
bett's statement that weight for weight and weather for 
weather, they will yield more nutriment fur cattle than hay, 
is denied by Wilson's Cyclopedia which says that though used 
in France and the southern parts of Europe as fodder, they 
are never found equal to English hay, and are seldom or 
never given to horses. They are however in the United 
States. 

As to the value of fodder from maize as compared with 
good hay, very much depends on the manner in which the 
former is saved. For several years subsequent to 1849 the 
Agricultural Department of the Patent Office of the United 
States obtained from its correspondents in different sections 
much statistical matter in regard to maize fodder. It was 
highly prized in most quarters. Mr. Temple Cutlt- r, of Ham- 
ilton Mass., in 1849-50 described his method, as making the 
upper half of corn-stalks, including the leaves, eq lal to timo- 
thy or other hay. He cut and got them in the same c'ay, in 
fair weather; giving them only a litde time to wilt in the ?\m. 
In the barn, he placed them on poles in good ventilation, 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 189 

when they kept perfectly sweet, being of a green color. Cat- 
tle ate them with great avidity, leaving not a stalk behind. 
Cows gave more milk, when fed on these, than on the best 
clover hay, and he was confident they contained more fatten- 
ing properties. By careful and accurate experiments, weigh- 
ing the top stalks, he ascertained that an acre producing 45 
bushels of corn would yield 2,000 lbs. of dry stalks, cut above 
the ears The lower part of the stalks would weigh still 
more, cut and cured in a similar way. 

"The proper stage for cutting is when the seeds begin to 
form, for then the organized elements of the kernels are 
diffused throughout the whole plant." * * All for- 
age plants should be cured in the shade as far as practicable. 

A. W. Dodge, of Hamilton Mass., says the tops and blades 
well cured, are considered of equal value, ton for ton, with 
English hay. Two others of the same State say : one, that the 
shuck compared with the blade, is about one to two; the 
other, that the value of shucks and blades for stock feeding 
is one-third that of good hay. Mr. Marsh, of New Hamp- 
shire, reckons them at one half. From Xenia Ohio, the 
shuck was reported at one-third the value of the blade, and 
the blade well saved, about equal to second rate hay. In 
Wayne Co., N. Y., a ton of stalks grown for fodder, was 
more valuable for cows than a ton of hay, being richer, 
and greatly preferred by them. 

From Ashland, Ohio, report was that shuck and blades, 
weight for weight, were worth as much or more than the best 
of hay for cattle. From Portland, Ind., that the shucks were 
very valuable for cattle and horses; from Lincoln Co , Ky , 
that there was more nutrition in the shucks than the blade, 
and both valuable for all kinds of stock, especially cattle and 
sheep. From Montgomery Co., Maryland, that shucks were 
something more nutritious than good wheat straw for cattle. 
From Cumberland and Buckingham Counties, Virginia, that 



190 1\DIAN CORN AND ITS CTTLnrKE. 

the best corn blades were superior to shucks or hay, or any- 
other long fodder. From the latter it is added that corn 
shucks, when packed away sufficiently moist to produce a 
little red mildew, and sprinkled over in packing with a sack 
of salt to the shucks from loo bbls. of corn, were very valu- 
able, and when passed through the cutting-box, wet, and 
mixed with corn-meal or ground oats, they were little in- 
ferior to the blades. If the blades are saved and stacked in 
the field, the shucks quite equal them in nutrition. From 
Amherst Co., Va., that the blade was equal in value to hay of 
any kind ; the shuck was too coarse for horses, but eaten 
freely by cows. From Halifax, North Carolina, that the 
shuck was greatly preferred to the blade, but was more diffi- 
cult to save in good order; neither shuck nor blade, weight 
for weight, would compare with good hay. From Edwards, 
Mississippi, that the blade was preferred to the shuck, and 
good hay to both. From Washington, Miss., that theshuck 
was richer and stronger food than the blade, which was 
chaffy, at best, gathered from the stalks that had matured 
grain, and was the most costly fodder fed in any country. 
It cost eight or ten per cent of the grain, in weight and value, 
by being stripped before the grain was ripe. The cotton 
crop could not be thoroughly worked, for the fodder pulling. 
A hand could not pull, bundle and stack more than three or 
four hundred lbs. per day, during which his health suffered 
more than at any other work. Blades were equal, pound for 
pound, to timothy hay as received there in bales. From 
Memphis, Tennessee, it was reported that the blade was the 
best long food for horses, exceeding in price the best Northern 
hay ; the average price 70 cts. per cwt. ; the shuck fed to 
cows and young mules. From Licking Co., Ohio, that the 
shuck, if used immediately after husking, was worth more, 
pound for pound, than the blade, and both together, deduct- 
ing the stalk* when well pressed, worth for horned cattle 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



191 



more than the best of hay, weight for weight. From Clark 
Co., Ohio, that sheep if they have plenty, will often refuse 
the husk entirely, while cattle will eat the husk first and 
then the blade. Same weight of well saved blades better for 
young stock and horses than average hay. 

In the statements of correspondents for 1S53 in U. S. P. O. 
Report, out of some dozen who gave the mode of harvesting, 
three topped their corn. One was John Brown sen'r., 
who introduced the Erown corn ; he topped early in Sep- 
tember, and harvested about October 9th., raising 104 bush- 
els of shelled corn to the acre. The second preferred it as 
less laborious. 

The following table from U. S. P. O. Reports 1849 ^"ti 
1S50, shows a great diminution in the phosphates, potash and 
chlorine, and organic acids from July 19th to Oct. i8lh 
(these having gone into the grain mostly,) and a great in- 
crease of silica and lime, so necessary to the strength of the 
stalk. Elements of ash of leaves of maize at different stages, 

XLVI. 



Carbonic Acid... 

Silica. 

Sulphuric Acid. 

Phosphates 

Lime 

Ma.siiiesia 

Pola.sh 

Soda 

Chlorine 

Organic Acid.... 



Totals. 



July 19 



5.40 

13 50 

2 IG 

21.00 

0G9 

0.37 

9 !t8 

34 39 

4.5.') 

5.50 



Aug 2. 



2 850 

19.8.50 

1.995 

10.250 

4.035 

2.980 

11.075 

29.590 

0.020 

2 400 



98.14 97.7.-0 



Aug 23. 



99.58 



Aug 30. 



3.50 

30.27 

5 84 

13 .50 

3.38 

2.30 

9.15 

22-13 

1.03 

2 05 



99.75 



Oct 18. 



4.050 
58.050 
4.8M 
5.8.30 
4. .510 
0.8G.') 

7 333 

8 520 
2.004 
2.2f'0 



99.523 



The Fodder frovi the general crop ^ after the grain is removed, 
like other fodder, is rich or poor according to the time of 
cutting and care in saving. Different indications are relied 
on for the best time of cutting up at the ground ; a certain 
dryness of the lower leaves, a certain degree of hardness of 



192 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

the grain, a certain whitening or browning of the green husks; 
the finding, on careful examination, no ear but whai is too 
old for boiling, &c. &c. The manner of curing will be des- 
cribed hereafter. If put up in too large shocks, it is apt in 
moist situations to mould ; if in too small shocks (unless re- 
shocked after a few days, or removed to the ricks ) to become 
weather beaten and to lose its flavor. In husking, the 
shucks are usually left on the stalk. This fodder is very 
much prized, and is generally estimated at one half the 
value of good hay. Its virtues are often improved by chop- 
ping, scalding, compressing or steaming, and mixing witli 
meal, bran or other grain. The value has often been reckon- 
ed at one-third that of the grain. 

The simplest way of feeding is to draw the corn stalks be- 
fore husked to the feed lots, often portions of a pasture tem- 
porarily fenced in, and to spread it over the ground ; first 
turning in the fatting cattle, which are soon turned into an- 
other lot, followed by stock cattle, and these by hogs. After 
a general husking, fodder may be fed out every day, especial- 
ly during winter, either spread over the pasture lots, or the 
cattle-yard sloped circularly towards the centre, where the 
liquid manure and falling water colkct and act as a solvent 
for that which is rejected by the cattle ; or it may pass through 
the cutting-box and be thrown into the troughs to be wet, 
salted or mixed, for the cattle or horses in the stalls. Some 
have protested against cutting too short, as subjecting the 
gums of the cattle to injury from the hard and sharp material 
of the butts, which might be prevented by making the length 
of the pieces greater than the diameter. Some cut half an 
inch long. To do this economically, a great number of labor 
siving machines have been patented. They are too nu- 
merous for any general description. 

Some feeders after cutting fine the fodder for horses and 
neat cattle, scald it, so that it almost equals the green state, 



INDIAN CORN A.»D ITS CULTDRE. 193 

especially in producing a flow of milk. Mixing the cut fod- 
der with shorts, meal or bran, adds to its feeding value 
twenty-five or thirty per cent. 

An ox is said to eat two per cent of his live weight. 

A farmer, (see U. S. Agricultural Report 1869,) recom. 
mends, from personal experience, the following apparatus 
for steaming. A large box, made steam tight, is placed with- 
in a larger box, with some non-conducting material, such as 
sawdust, packed between, at least twelve inches thick. The 
food to be cooked being placed in the steam box, hot water is 
turned in, and the apparatus covered lightly with woolen rags 
to confine the heat. Among the results claimed for cooked 
or steamed food for domestic animals are — it makes mouldy 
cornstalks &c., perfectly sweet and palatable for animals. 

In U. S. P. O. Report 1865, E. W. Stewart, of New York, 
says when keeping a large stock, there were often bought for 
steaming, stacks of fodder which would have been utterly 
worthless for feeding in the ordinary way, and no difierence 
was detected after steaming in the smell, or relish with which 
it was eaten. The odor of bran or corn-meal mixed with the 
fodder is diffused through the whole mass. It softens the 
toughest fiber of dry cornstalks, rendering them almost like 
green succulent food, &c. It enables the farmer to turn al- 
most everything raised, into food for his stock, without less- 
ening the value of the manure. The manure from steamed 
food decomposes more readily ; is always ready for use. It 
cures incipient heaves in horses ; those having a cough for 
several months at pasture, have been cured in two weeks on 
steamed food, ^ It has a remarkable effect on horses in cases 
of sudden colds and in constipation. Those fed on it are 
much less liable to disease, and in this respect, it seems to 
have all the good qualities of grass. It brightens the appear- 
ance of an animal, makes him more contented, gives him 

when working, the necessary time to eat, and enable? the 

17 ..;,-,. ^« -^..^u .... - 



194 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

farmer to fatten in one-third less time. It saves one-third of 
the food ; two bushels of cut and cooked hay satisfying cows 
as well as three bushels uncooked. 

The machinery for cooking corn fodder was thus de- 
scribed. "U. S. Agricultural Report 1865, pp 403. A porta- 
ble steam engine of five horse power provided, the animals, 
steam box, food &c., arranged as follows : The stables are 
jn the lower story, on each side of a feeding floor, ten feet 
wide. It would be more convenient to have room around 
each tier of animals to pass a cart or wagon to carry off t! e 
manure, than to throw it out at the side, A wooden track is 
laid in the center of the feeding floor, on which to run the 
steam boxes. Two, holding one hundred bushels each, 
should be provided for one hundred cattle. One would run 
under the upper floor to be filled and steamed, and then be 
moved away for use ; while the other could be run to the 
spot, filled and steamed. On the upper floor the straw cut- 
ter would be placed, provided with a feeding apron to feed 
itself, with two bins overhead, one for cut hay or straw, the 
other for meal or bran. Elevators to carry up the cut feed 
from the cutter to the feed bin, as fast as cut, would be neces- 
sary — also a water pipe connected with an elevated reservoir, 
to furnish water to moisten the feed. A tank might be 
placed overhead. An upright revolving shaft will be set in 
the center, provided with six arms just long enough to turn 
inside. This shaft will pass through a like cross-bar on the 
top, and extend above enough to receive a pulley of the proper 
size to revolve it 600 times per minute. A spout extends 
from an elevated feed bin to the top of this cylinder, with a 
slide to open or shut it. A spout also extends from the meal 
or bran bin, so as to communicate in the same way with the 
cylinder, and a water pipe, with a stop-cock and moveable 
cover, is placed on the top of the cylinder. A belt runs from 
the engine to the pulley on the top of this shaft. When ready 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTljRE. 195 

to fill the steam box, the shaft is set in motion; the spout for 
cut feed operates so as to discharge a definite quantity, and 
the spout for meal, so as to discharge the proportion desired ; 
and the water is let in, 20 gallons for 50 bushels of feed. 

The feed, meal and water, in passing through the cylinder, 
will come in contact with these swift moving arms, and be 
thoroughly mixed, and fall into the steam box, ready for 
steaming. The food should be pressed into the steam box as 
more will be steamed, and better. One expert man may cut 
and steam feed for one hundred head of cattle, and two men 
could easily care for two hundred. Thus with proper system 
and machinery, the expense of cutting and steaming for a 
large stock, will be little more than the ordinary way of feed- 
ing. This steam engine may be used to grind the grain, cut 
and steam the food, and do all the work requiring stationary 
power on the farm. The engine should be placed as near 
the steam box and straw cutter as it can be safely; with a 
double spark extinguisher over the chimney to prevent fire. 

Wetting the feed, as well as steaming, is suitably provided 
for in the above arrangement. The want of sufficient wet- 
ting is said to have been the great mistake in the early ex- 
periments in steaming fodder in America and England. 

Fed in the common way, without housing, fodder is much 
better for early than late winter feeding. Kept in barns, it 
may keep good for three years; cut five or six inches long, 
saves waste. A Michigan correspondent of Moore's Rural 
New Yorker, for November, 1873, advises for winter feed the 
mixing of cut fodder, one bushel, with two quarts of meal 
ground from corn, oats and wheat screenings, as causing a 
greater flow of milk than clear corn-meal. H. Mosely. a but- 
ter maker, was said by the Springfield Mass. Republican, to 
feed corn-stalks twice in the morning before milking, after- 
wards hay, cut feed, corn fodder, oats and hay wet with 
warm water and mixed with corn and rye meal. 



196 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 

The corn fodder has been frequently said to pay for 
harvesthig the grain crop. Its money value has been various- 
ly stated in different years and at different places. In 1853, 
in Wayne Co., Michigan, where the grain was 50 cts. per 
bushel, thirty- five bushels being the average crop, the stalks 
were worth S3. 00 per acre. Near Lake Village, New Hamp- 
shire, corn was Si.oo per bushel, and in a crop of 104 bushels 
to the acre, four tons of husks and stalks were valued at $8.00. 
In Seneca Co., N. Y., in a crop of 50 bushels per acre at 56 
cts. , the acre of corn-stalks was worth §4. 00. — In other years, 
the stalks were reckoned at $5.00 per ton for food and $2. 00 
for manure ; sometimes at S15.C0 per ton. 

A farmer in 1851 found sown corn fodder better than the 
best of hay for sheep, and the product per acre three times 
that of the best meadow land; he had kept from two to four 
hundred head on it almost exclusively; the fodder from i}4. 
to two acres sufficient to winter one hundred head of sheep 
without any grain, except for ewes, through the month of 
March. 

As to the feeding qualities of corn generally, the testimony is 
very ample and positive. From Delaware Co., Pennsylvania, 
it was stated that the most economical and profitable extra 
feed for working cattle, horses, beef cattle, hogs, dairy stock, 
poultry (taking into view the comparative certainty of obtain- 
ing a crop, against all seasons and accidents,) was corn. 
Fifty per cent of the entire profits of our agriculture, exclusive 
of dairying, came, directly or indirectly, from corn alone. 

In the ear, soft corn, or that not perfecdy ripe, including 
nubbins, so called, are fed to cattle and hogs whole ; the cat- 
tle munching cob and all. They do not contain as much 
nutriment, but they are more digestible than corn perfectly 
ripe Soft corn is said to suit horses. Ripe corn in the ear 
or shelled is considered by most farmers, who can get good 
prices for their grain, "unprofitable, fed dry to full grown 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



]97 



horned cattle. It is otherwise with young cattle and sheep. 
An Ohio farmer, writing to one of our agricultural journals on 
wintering calves, advises giving them good shelter, shelled 
corn and plenty of good clover hay, or corn fodder, and as- 
serts that corn meal is apt to make them scour; the feeding of 
corn to be light at first and gradually increased. Wilson's 
Rural Cyclopedia says a feed of whole corn reveals the com- 
parative youth or age of horses, whose grinders cannot be 
seen by an intelligent purchaser. If his grinders are old and 
■worn, he will slobber the grain out of his mouth; if young, he 
will grind it soundly and vigorously with a noise that cannot 
be mistaken. 

According to Dr. Salisbury (see U. S. P. O. Report, 1861,) 
the maize grain has in 100 parts, 

XLVII. 



Sugar and extract 

.March 

Fibre 

Oil 

Gluten 



Aug 
30. 



3 67 
1.0-i 



Sept 
13. 



5 10 
9.75 
2.43 



Oct 

18 



13 32 
56.30 
0..S9 
4.60 
3. 68 



Matter from liber. 

Albumen 

Casein e 

Dextrine 

Water 



Ang 


Sept 


30. 
1.03 


13. 


1.53 


0.21 


0.84 


0.08 


0.04 


64 


0.66 


90.80 


78.75 



Oct 
18. 

5.99 
4 29 
0.08 
3.-6 

8.45 



"The analyses of the cob, shows that these elements pass 
from the stalk to it, and from it to the grain." The great in- 
crease of sugar and starch in October shows that their de- 
velopment takes place late ; that of oil especially. A want 
of sap due to drought, checks these operations. Nearly five- 
sixths of the starch, more than half the sugar, nearly all the 
oil, nearly two-thirds of the gluten, and four-fifths of the al- 
bumen and dextrine are developed during the last thirty-five 
days of the period indicated by the above dates. 

Little undigested corn fed whole is said to pass horses and 
sheep. An Ohio farmer preferred feeding in the ear if the 
horse gets the lampers ; if corn ready shelled, they grow on 
him ; if fed in the ear, he will eat them off. It does better 



198 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

feeding corn whole to hard working horses and oxen. After 
an animal has been freely fed on ground or cooked food for 
a considerable time and the fatting is nearly complete, it may 
be best to wind up with good hard corn, and this is often 
done. But the propriety of feeding corn dry and whole must 
(le[iend largely on the vigor of the animal and the state of his 
teeth, as the general rule is that all unbroken seeds pass the 
animal undigested. But if the digestive powers are very 
niuch stimulated by severe exercise, what then? The great 
majority of late writers on the subject, whatever the gen- 
eral practice may be, favor the softening or breaking of the 
grain, previous to feeding. It is very easy keeping corn to 
soak for feeding, when grinding is inconvenient. Many farm- 
ers, when there is much feeding to do, always keep a barrel 
or hogshead of soaked ears on hand. This saves the time 
and expense of steaming or grinding, as well as the toll or 
freight. 

Of five farmers of long experience in different parts of 
Washington and Meigs Counties, Ohio, one soaked more or 
less for cattle, horses and hogs, twenty-four hours in spring, 
and twelve hours in summer ; on corn soaked in the ear, 
he raised as good a lot of hogs, as he ever did by other 
methods. Another said that soaking for cattle would do for 
a while, but they would whet their teeth on it, till they would 
not eat it , he soaked for hogs, shelled ; but preferred grinding 
and cooking; and there was a gain of one-fourth by letting it 
sour in summer. A third found it best steaming cob and all 
for cattle and hogs, and soaking in a barrel, with two quarts 
of salt on top for horses. A fourth found a gain of one quar- 
ter in grinding and cooking for cows, but fed shelled unground 
to sheep, and boiled in the ear to horses and hogs. A fifth 
fed the small ears whole in autumn to cattle and horses, and 
ground and cooked the balance for cattle, and ground and 
wet the b.ilance, (except in winter, when he soaked it) for 



INDIAN COaN AND IT3 CULTURE. 199 

horses ; fed bran and chop stuff to sheep, and com in the ear 
to hogs. The cobs of green corn used for human food, both 
before and after boiUng, are eaten with great reHsh by hogs. 

Many farmers shell their corn and cook it whole. One 
method is to fill a potash kettle half full of shelled corn, then 
fill to the brim with water and boil the water away ; leaving 
the vessel full of boiled corn. It is much more rapidly cook- 
ed when broken. This has been recommended by some for 
hog feeding, as adding considerable to the nutriment of the 
grain. But it may be a question whether some of the nu- 
tritious qualities of the grain may not be dissipated by long 
boiling. The simplest way of breaking the grain is crushing 
it. Many prefer this to grinding, for horses. In 1870 it was 
stated on the authority of an English Journal that feeding 
horses on crushed maize had become very common of late in 
England. Corn and cob crushers were in fashion many years 
ago. 

Allusion has already been made, in connection with the 
analyses of the cobs, to the different views of farmers as to 
their nutritive qualities. It might be added that when mix- 
ed in a crushed state, with other feed, they help out the ma- 
nure. As fuel, they are much esteemed for smoke-houses. 
At a discussion in one of the Farmer's Associations which are 
becoming so interesting in some of the older States. Dr. Syl- 
vester said he had experimented on cobs ground with corn, 
and found they produced good milk. He estimated the 
cobs, when ground with corn at 15 to 20 cts. per bushel. 
Prof. Whitney thought the preparation of the cobs cost more 
than the good they did. When the ears were boiled whole, 
the cobs might help eke out the scanty forage of a hard spring. 

Next as to grinding the grain, it is generally estimated that 
for horses and cattle, twenty to thirty per cent is gained in 
feeding qualities, or added to the value of the corn. For 
horses, coarse grinding is said to be the best. For oxen 



200 INDIAN COEN AND ITS CUITCRE. 

and cows, perhaps the greatest gain is in sprinkling the 
meal over cut fodder. This with a little salt makes the coarse 
provender very palatable. Fed to milch cows in their slop, 
it is a very effectual milk compeller. For hogs it is a con • 
siderable gain on the whole corn, but cooking the meal 
makes it go much further. The grinding, however, will 
hardly pay, if labor is high, and corn low, and the farmer 
must pay a heavy toll for grinding, or lose much time or 
labor in getting it ground. Good judges say it pays if the toll 
is only one eighth, and the mill is near by. If the feeder has 
a mill of his own at his farm, the case is very much altered, 
that is, if it is of sufficient power to give employment to a boy. 
The calculation is easily made, when the farmer knows clear- 
ly the value of his time and the expense of the grinding. In 
feeding coarse fodder, hay or straw, the meal has a special 
value in making them more palatable. Grinding also makes 
cooking for hogs easy. The favorable effect of the two 
operations in hog feeding has been variously estimated at 
forty to one hundred per cent. One farmer mentions as a 
simple contrivance of his, for breaking the corn in a small 
way, the fastening of a plane bitt in a board, so as to act like 
a plane in taking shavings off an ear of corn. 

A distinguished Vermont drover, at the Farmer's club, de- 
clared strongly in favor of corn-meal for fattening stock gen- 
erally; he said that the farmers did not feed heavy enough, 
and that of twelve quarts fed, the last four did twice as much 
for fatting as the first four. 

In the earlier volumes of the U. S. P. O. and Agricultural 
Reports, is placed on record quite a range of testimony as to 
the different methods of feeding maize to the different do- 
mestic animals, which was brought out by the efforts of the 
Department to ascertain the different opinions and practice 
on the subject prevalent in the various sections of the United 
States. That embodied in the Report for 1849-50, is strong 



INDIAN CORN AND TT9 CULTURE. 201 

in favor of grinding for cattle, and grinding and cooking 
for hogs; less favorable to grinding for horses and perhaps 
still less for sheep, because they were thought to masticate 
the grain more thoroughly. There was a greater unanimity 
in the witnesses to this effect from the Atlantic than from the 
Western States. A Southern planter gave his opinion that if 
the feeding was to be done by plantation negroes, corn were 
best fed in the ear. Some recommended boiling whole, 
others crushing the grain and cob together; two giving it as 
their experience, that the ground cob added one-third to the 
nutriment of the grain. One expressed a doubt whether the 
fat from cooked corn was as solid as that from whole grain 
raw. Corn-meal was said to be best for beef cattle. The 
range of estimates of increase from grinding, or crushing and 
cooking was not far from that already stated. The advantage 
of cooking was illustrated every day at the distilleries, where 
after distilling, the refuse corn was considered equal to the raw 
grain for feeding. An Illinoian gave his opinion that grind- 
ing and cooking increased the nutriment, but would not pay 
in feeding beef cattle ; it might in hog feeding. As to mix- 
tures of feed, horses had been seen looking very fat and sleek 
after being fed on cracked corn and oats moistened Avith salt 
water; and corn ground with rye was good horse feed. 

There were fewer statements on the subject in the U. S. P. 
O. Report for 1853. Two, from Illinois and Pennsylvania, 
favored corn and cob meal, the latter estimating the loss in 
feeding whole to cattle or sheep at one-fourth. But a New 
Yorker said he had known corn ground with the cob to in- 
flame the stomachs of horses and cattle eating it, so as to 
prove fatal. 

Mr. Joseph Sullivant, in the Ohio Agricultural Report for 
1869, has a very elaborate article on hog feeding and pork 
making, in which he states that the "chemical analysis of the 
corn cob gives six to ten per cent of matter that may be 



202 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

rendered, by long maceration and boiling, capable of assimi- 
lation by the animal. ' 'He thought the nutriment in cob feed- 
ing was not paying, but an occasional feed of cob-meal would 
relieve that instinctive want that induced the hog to eat coal, 
rotten wood, and even clay and dirt." The experiments of 
Lawes and Miles had shown that as the hog approached ma- 
turity of fatness, the quantity of corn required for making a 
pound of pork increased, and he thought it would take less 
food to make 600 lbs. of pork from two animals than from 
one. His estimate of the number of pounds of pork to be 
made from one bushel of corn, was, if fed on the ear, 9, as 
raw meal 12, as boiled corn 13^^, and as cooked meal 15. — 
But sixteen to nineteen pounds of pork -were possible, and 
eighteen to twenty pounds to the bushel were not unfrequent 
in actual practice. The result of two experiments by Rob- 
ert Thatcher, a Pennsylvanian, one on five very ordinary 
pigs, getting id-^j pounds, and the other on five superior 
Chester pigs, resulting in 1 7y%\ lbs. from a bushel of cooked 
meal, was accounted for by the feeder as due to "very care- 
ful feeding, clean and warm bedding, and a tight house." 

Prof. Miles of the Michigan Agricultural College, in the 
course of an experiment in fattening pigs, fed two for twenty 
weeks on corn meal and in 140 days they gained 205)4 lbs. 
or 98 j^\ lbs. each pig, over the original weight. "In the 
twenty weeks, 935^ lbs. of meal were consumed, equal to 
i6_7_. bushels of corn, and giving a return of 12^ lbs. of pork 
for each bushel, and requiring 4^4 lbs. of meal to make one 
of pork." They were grade Essex pigs ; two weeks old when 
the first feeding began, which was a mixed diet of milk, meal 
and a portion of roots, and was continued nine weeks before 
the twenty weeks on corn-meal commenced. Prof. Miles' 
deduction from his experiments was that in pork making the 
best return will be obtained by "liberal feeding during the 
early stages of growth." The result of experiments by Mr. 



INDIAX CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 203 

Lawes, (of England,) of a similar kind was "that the larger the 
proportion of nitrogenous compounds in the food, the great- 
er the tendency to increase \i\ frame a.nd flesh, but that the ;;m- 
iuring or ripening oi the animal— in fact its fattening — depends 
very much tnore on the amount, in the food, of certain digestible 
«c«-nitrogenou3 constituents." G. Geddes, of Syracuse, N. 
Y., is quoted as stating at "Discussions" during the New York 
State Fair, 1867, that "he had thoroughly proved, years ago, 
that cooking independent of grinding, at least doubled the 
value of food." G. A. Moore, of Erie Co., N. Y., "had 
fully satisfied himself that the value of food was tripled by 
cooking." Prof. Mapes, says (in Transactions of American 
Institute, 1864,) "this experiment often tried, has proved that 
eighteen or nineteen pounds of cooked corn is equal to fifty 
pounds of raw corn for hog feed; and Mr. Mason, of New 
jersey, found that pork fed with raw grain, cost i2^cts. per 
lb., and that from cooked corn 4^cts. 

It is evident that the breed and condition of the animal 
fed, the variety of the corn consumed, the climate, the season 
and the surroundings, as well as the manner of feeding must 
be taken into view in accounting for the results of different 
modes of treatment. The mode of feeding, with a view to 
profit, must often be determined in a great measure by the 
scale on which the feeder operates. An Indianian in 1869, 
found the best food for young pigs was corn-bread crumbled 
in milk or dish water ; they gaining a pound a day in weight. 

A Delhi correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette shows the 
advantage cf mixed food used on a large scale by feeding 108 
cows at 4 a. m. and 5 p. m. as follows : Into a car box 16 
feet long, 3 feet wide and 3 feet deep, two bbls. of meal ground 
in cob were thrown, then i bbl. of middlings and 4 bushels 
of barley sprouts from malt manufactory. This was shovel- 
ed over to mix. then cut corn fodder, or clover hay was r.d- 
dcd, making the box three-fourths full. Morning food pre- 



204 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 

pared the previous evening, evening food in the morning. 
This suggests the importance of regularity in feeding. Some 
farmers recommend feeding the same animal, meal in one 
trough, and whole corn in another, giving him access to both. 
If the assertion is true, as made by one writer that un- 
broken corn in all cases passes the stomachs whole, of all 
animals except birds, then the quadruped that eats, if he di- 

' gests, must grind the grain himself. This would be allowing 
better molar teeth to young cattle and sheep than to the rest 
of their fraternity. Indeed the teeth of the animal have con- 
siderable to do with the manner of feeding. 

Certain general principles on this subject are quoted in U. 
S Agricultural Report, 1865, substantially as follows: Glob- 
ules containing meal, flour or starch, whether in grain or 
roots, are incapable of affording any nourishment as food for 
animals till broken. The mechanical method of breaking or 
grinding, is only partially sufficient. The most efficient man- 
ner of breaking globules is by heat, fermentation or chemi- 
cal agency of acids or alkalies. Dextrine, the kernel of 
each globule, is alone soluble, and therefore alone nutritive. 
The shells of the globules are reduced to fragments by me- 
chanism or heat. Cooking, if long continued, will burst them, 
but some mechanical force will do it very much sooner, as 
any one knows who has tried cooking corn whole and un- 
broken. The mouse-eaten kernel is softened much sooner 
than its fellows. 

1 Cooking for the animal saves part of the waste of the 
tissues and heat producing elements, and makes the digestion 
more rapid and complete. The added flesh or fat is stored 
away sooner, and room left for more. The water so neces- 
sary to good digestion is cooked into the food, and distends 
the stomach, and lays the nutritive particles open to the 
proper organs. The delicate stomachs of swine are certarnly 
good arguments for cooking their food, but their dental ap- 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 205 

paratus admits of the occasional feeding, at certain stages 
of development, of whole corn with decided advantage, 
provided pure water is given with it ; and when cheap corn, 
scant fuel, high labor and other circumstances make it ad- 
vantageous to the feeder, for the porker to grind and cook his 
own feed, the delicate stomach refuses to make as ample re- 
turns in fat and flesh, or demands more corn for making 
them. Other viands than cooked meal for this delicate stom- 
ach as well as for the stronger stomachs of the cow and 
sheep, may be more cheaply provided near the manufactories 
of large cities, where also the carrying and marketing of the 
product are easier and more certain ; and the kitchen, that 
common friend to the swinish and bovine races, in the case 
of small pens and barns near by, may diminish considerably 
the drafts on the corn-crib, by a more thorough preparation 
of what is taken therefrom. 

As to work animals, those farmers who testify that cook- 
ing for work animals is not favorable, confirm the theory 
that exercise stimulates the digestive organs, and that severe 
labor, in hastening the transformation of the tissues and in- 
creasing the animal heat, makes the organs more powerful for 
assimilation, while it creates the fierce demand for food we 
call hunger, and causes the nutritive matter to be of more 
account than the saving of the tissues of the stomach. 

Feeding poultry. — Corn is excellent for this purpose, and 
is much used in the United States, especially for fattening. 
It is fed to them in all sorts of ways except as raw meal, dry 
or wet. For young chickens wet meal is dangerous — giving 
them the gapes. 

Wilson in the Rural Cyclopedia says that maize grain is 
fed whole to large fowls, and bruised for smaller ones, and 
that these are remarkably well adapted for feeding and fat- 
tening all kinds of poultry. All the famous, fat, large liver- 
ed geese of North-west France and South-east Germany are 



206 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTUKE. 

fed with whole maize, and all larm-yard hens and barn door 
turkeys, of Great Britain, would succeed better on a plain 
diet of maize, than, in the former case, on most special feed- 
ing, and in the latter on the filthy, splashy, expensive and 
most troublesome system of cramming. Cobbett says he killed 
one pullet not of large breed, out of which he took loose fat 
weighing ^ lb. Fattened most perfectly ten turkeys in the 
same manner. Geese and ducks fatten easier than either of 
the former, fattened in the same way. 

For fresh eggs in winter, plenty of corn is given whole. 
To very little chickens or young turkeys, some is given in a 
cracked state, but they soon learn to take it down whole. 
Sparrows eat it as fast as fowls ; hence poultry should be fed 
close to the door. 

Bennett, in a work on fowls, describes certain experiments 
of a French poulterer in cooking corn for fowls in various 
ways, .which illustrates the profit of so doing. Mush from 
corn meal is very much relished by hens, and in satisfactory 
quantities multiplies eggs. Mixed feed for fowls, as well as 
our other domestic dependants, is fast getting into favor. A 
change of food works well. The smaller and oily kinds of 
corn seem specially fitted for chickens. One of these, called 
maize a poulet, has been very much in use in France for this 
purpose. 

Human food. — Indian corn as a bread material, to be manu- 
factured on a large scale, cannot compete with wheat. Not 
that it is really less nourishing, but because from the com- 
parative coarseness of the meal and the smaller quantity of 
glufen, it cannot assume the saleable forms of cracker and 
loaf, which wheat flour takes on so easily. As cakes, warm 
bread, mush, samp, hominy, hulled, parched and popped 
corn, and roasting and boiling ears, it is very much relished 
by a great many, even as a luxury, and in certain quarters as 
common food ; presenting, if anything, a greater variety of 



INDIAN CORN AND IT3 CULTURE. 207 

dishes than wheat flour or any other grain can produce. And 
for these general or occasional purposes its use throughout 
Christendom, if not throughout its native America is doubt- 
less on the mcrease. But it will probably never again be so 
exclusively used as vegetable food as it was by the Mexicans 
of Cortez' time, or by the North American Indians, or by the 
slaveholding communities of the Southern United States. 

Roasting or boiliiig ears. — Any one observing the huge piles 
of green corn ears on the pavement by the city market place 
in summer and early fall, will realize what an important 
place this luscious article of food takes at our city tables — 
especially in large cities where corn bread for sale is hardly 
known. 

Any of the common varieties taken at the right stage may 
be boiled or roasted with some advantage, but the sugar corn 
is very generally preferred. The requisites are that the 
saccharine matter shall be well developed, and that the 
kernels shall have attained their full size, but are still soft and 
yielding to the finger-nail. Perhaps the best indication of 
their fitness for boiling is the dryness of the silk at the end 
of the ear, while the husk outside has lost none of its green- 
ness. It requires some experience however to select surely 
and readily, ears not too young, nor too hard for healthful 
and nutritious eating, when boiled. Some cooks shave the 
grain from the cob with a sharp knife before boiling, as when 
cooked with beans. Others grate the corn off the cob, and 
make corn soup. Some break the surface before boiling; 
others cut the corn off after boiling; but most generally it is 
brought to the table in the ear, and eaten with a litde salt or 
butter. Corn soup is one of the richest and most whole • 
some of viands. 

The New York Albion, speaking of these ears with their 
grains that seem bursting with milky juice, says that when 
placed a sufficient time before the fire, they become little 



208 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CLLTURE, 

bags of delicious milk. Americans commonly roast the ears 
before a clear fire, or on hot embers. Boiled are not so good 
as roasted ears, yet esteemed very palatable when boiled with 
fat pork. 

The female flowers are gathered by some of the French 
and Germans before the male flowers have expanded, and 
are pickled like cucumbers. Young small culms of thickly 
grown crops are cut from time to time by the Mexicans, and 
served in desserts in the manner of Asparagus, in order that 
they may yield their sweet juices to the mouih tvhen chewed. 

A German correspondent of a Vienna (Austria) Journal, 
says the extremely saccharine stalk is eaten raw by many 
Indians. Reference has already been made to the choice 
varieties, Sugar, Evergreen, Darling, Canada and New Mexi- 
can Black &c. The Adams is a late variety which produces 
very good boiling ears. The ears of the above sorts are 
generally small, and in some kinds, shriveled when dry. 
All these ripen early, some by the i8th of July or earlier. 

In Cincinnati the average price per dozen in July 1869 was 
10 t0 2octs.per doz.; in July 1872, 15 to 20 cts.; in October 
1876, 5 to 15 cts. 

Many of the poorer Mexicans are said to subsist entirely 
on the **unripe ears cooked." Some of the Indians preserve 
roasting ears for winter by stringing and drying. From the 
Cincinnati Weekly Gazettes from 1871 to 1873 are extracted 
the substance of a few recipes for disposing of green corn. 

(A.) — Scrapes the corn from the cob with the back of the 
knife, thus securing the sweetest portion ; cooks with milk or 
cream, boils the cobs with beans, drains the latter when 
cooked, and mixes with the corn, adding salt and water. 

(B ) — Scalds the corn, not enough to harden it, tlien .«haves 
tlie grain off the ear, so as to divide it three or four times ; 
scrapes the chits from the cob, being the sweetest part, adds 
sweet milk with a little water, butter and salt, lets it simmer 



IXDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 209 

for twelve minutes and stirs in evenly, a beaten egg — to be 
eaten with a very little sugar. 

Drying green corn. (C.) — Plucks it before it grows hard, 
cuts it from the cob without scalding; dries in the sun, or 
about a stove ; soaks a few hours before cooking. Keeps in 
loose sacks instead of jars, and so prevents mould. 

(D.) — After cutting, scrapes the cob with a knife to get all 
the heart and milk ; stirs it in a skillet on a stove till dry as it 
can be stirred ; then salts and peppers and spreads thin, and 
dries in the sun. Will cook much quicker than when boiled 
on the cob ; makes a good soup for the sick. 

(E ) — Packs in a jar or some clean vessel, the corn from 
well selected roasting ears; first covers with salt ad libitum ; 
then covers the vessel till wanted for use, when it is well 
washed, and soaked over night; stewed in a little water about 
half an hour, and seasoned with butter, cream and pepper. 

Canning. (F.) — Dissolves i J^ oz. tartaric acid in a half 
pint of water; cuts the corn from the cob and when cooked 
in sufficient water, adds one table-spoonful of the solution to 
each pint of the corn, and cans immediately, using tin cans. 
After opening adds a very little soda, four or five hours be- 
fore using. 

(G.) — Cuts the corn from the cob into a kettle, and covers 
with water; dissolves two oz. tartaric acid in one pint of hot 
water; adds six table-spoonfuls of liquid to each gallon of 
corn; then boils five minutes and cans; not pressing the corn 
tighdy, but letting the water stand over it ; seals, and keeps 
in a cool place; on opening, empties into a crock, and wash- 
es in a couple of waters, adds half a tea-spoonful of soda 
and two table-spoonfuls of sugar to one quart of corn ; finishes 
with salt, pepper and butter, and if preferred, a little cream 
and flour; and then cooks five minutes. 

Succotash or Sucatush is a term frequently applied to corn 
cut from the cob and boiled with beans. It is said to be an 
18 



210 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURR. 

abbreviation or change from ?niisiquatiish, an ancient Indian 
dish, in which however (see U. S. P. O. Report 1866, pp 499 
to 504) the Indians are said to have boiled fish and venison, 
and flesh of bears, beaver, moose, otter or raccoon, as well as 
peas, pumpkins and other vegetables raised among their corn. 
Corn is toasted by the Apache and other Indians by placing 
the kernels in a basket with a few live coals, or heated stones, 
and shaking rapidly ; occasionally holding the open basket 
to the fire. 

(e.) — The stalk, after the ear is pulled, at the right stage 
for boiling, will go on for a considerable time filling up with 
sweet juice, and if ground and pressed, might make a tolerable 
syrup. But when sugar can be obtained at the present 
average prices, it would not be very profitable making such 
stalks into syrup, even if enough of them were robbed of their 
ears. The ancient Mexicans made syrup of the stalks, and 
the same thing has been done occasionally in the United 
States. 

(/.) — Of the ripened grain, /^rr//^^ corn is probably the 
most economical preparation. If the variety used abounds 
i 1 starch, and contains a reasonable amount of oil, moderate 
heat causes it to swell and brown over the fire. Very good 
teeth may manage it whole j but where these are deficient, it 
is better ground. If first crushed in a mortar, and then 
ground fine in a coffee mill or small corn mill, it makes a 
very palatable meal, which, if one's beard is short enough, 
may be eaten dry; if otherwise, it is better wet, and best of 
all, wet with sweet milk. This meal of parched corn is said 
to have been carried in little bags by the Indians in the early 
years of our colonial history, when going long journeys on 
foot, being very effective in keeping up the strength of the 
system. (See U. S. P. O. Report, 1S66 ) The warriors on 
a war-path, subsisted on parched corn, which they called 
"Nckakee." Roger Williams traveled with two hundred 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 2il 

Indians at once, nearly two hundred miles through the 
woods, every man carrying a little basketful of this at his 
Lack, sufficient for three or four days provision. Parched 
meal is probably the lightest, as well as most economical sub- 
stitute for bread known, as what water there is in the grain 
is nearly all evolved in parching. The Mexicans roast the 
kernels for food. The Western Indians now consume large 
quantities of parched corn. 

(a) — Shelled corn boiled whole has been recommended by 
some, but the boiling is a long process, unless something is 
put into the boiler, to hasten the breaking of the epidermis. 
It is a question too whether much of the flavor of the kernel 
is not dissipated in the boiling before it is sufficiently com- 
plete for digestion. The larger grained varieties are best 
suited for this purpose. Eaten with milk or soup, it makes 
an agreeable and nourishing diet ; but perhaps it is not best 
to swallow the hulls, unless well broken in cooking or in 
chewing. 

(/i.) — Hulled com is the grain boiled for a while in water 
in which potash or pearlash is infused, which hastens the re- 
moval of the hulls. The oil with this alkali forms a soap. 
Sometimes a little bag of wood ashes unleached, is sub- 
stituted for potash in the kettle of corn. When the hulls are 
fairly loosened, the mass is taken out, and thoroughly wash- 
ed, and rinsed; the rinsing water carrying away the hulls ; 
the corn then boiled until thoroughly done. The time re- 
quired for this purpose makes it advisable to cook a huge 
kettle full at once. Eaten with milk, it is quite palatable ; 
when cold, may be fried, or otherwise warmed up. It is 
probably a rare dish of late. 

(/.) — The Indians had their 0-mo-nee. After they had se- 
lected out their seed for the next year from the crop of maize 
grown, the balance was dried in the husk on stagings over a 
smouldering fire^ then husked, shelled packed in large bifLh 



212 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

bark boxes and buried in the ground below the action of frost. 
Oinonce was this dried corn cracked in a stone mortar and 
then boiled. (B. P. Poore on Agriculture, U. S. Agricultural 
Keport, iS66 ) Our word hominy seems to be derived from 
this, sometimes spelled hommony. For this the grain is first 
hulled, and then simply broken, not ground, ^\'hat issome- 
t mes called yankee corn, including the flinty kinds, would 
seem most fitted for its manufacture. One of seven pre- 
miums given at the Indiana State Fair in 1869, on the best 
samples of corn, was on hominy corn, the others being on 
yellow, white and other colored varieties. 

The Pueblo and other Indians boil their corn in weak lime 
water, to remove the hull, and grind it into a soft pulp, of 
which cakes or bread are made. Hominy requires careful 
boiling, gentle and long enough continued. It is apt when 
placed over a heavy fire, to stick to the kettle and burn. It 
is most palatable, as well as most wholesome, when boiled 
quite soft. 

(y.) — Samp (the coarser parts of ground corn sifted out, 
and separated from the bran proper) when thoroughly cook- 
ed, is one of the best dishes prepared from maize. Where 
Indian corn is produced most abundantly, the white is mostly 
preferred for human food; its flavor being more agreeable, 
and its appearance more inviting. 

(y^.) — Grinding and cooking for the table. Corn-meal in its 
various preparations, is the chief medium through which this 
grain reaches the human stomach. Corn cakes are the form 
it has most generally taken. The North American Indians in 
Capt. Smith's time, after bruising it in a mortar, sifted it 
tiirough a basket for ash cakes. The Mexican tortillas be- 
* long to the past, as well as the present. The shelled corn is 
softened in water with the aid of lime, then rubbed on aflat 
stone into a fine mass, and from this is formed into their 
round cakes, which are baked on a thin clay plate, and eaten 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 213 

hot from the plate in place of bread, the Mexicans preferring 
the tortilla. A woman spends six hours every day in pre- 
paring them, and 312,500 strong, healthy Mexican women 
are said to be so employed. 

H. Carl Heller, in the Vienna Zeitung, writing from Toluca 
in 1846, says that raw meal is also made into tortillas for the 
Spaniards. 

The Pueblo Indians of New Mexico and Arizona are said 
by a wiiter in the U. S. P. O. Report, 1870, to cultivate in 
the primitive manner the original corn of America, of pink, 
blue and white colors, and small slender ears. These are 
pounded in a stone mortar into bluish white meal, and made 
into a kind of cake, called Tourke bread. A brisk fire is 
made under a slab of iron, or stoneora flat earthenware plate, 
supported by stones, resting on the ground, so as to admit the 
fire. A batter is then made of the meal, into which the wo- 
men having pressed the fingers of the right hand togethei, 
dip and draw them out thickly covered with the batter, 
which they press evenly on this heated substitute for a pan ; 
leaving a thin coating which quickly curls up; a sign that it 
is cooked on that side. It is then taken off, and another di[) 
made with the fingers is spread as before, then the upper 
side of the first cake is laid on top of the new dip; and when 
the second is ready to turn, the first is already cooked, and 
the second put through the same process as the first, and so 
on till a large pile of these wafer like sheets is rolled up — 
called by the Indians guaguave. It has a look like something 
coarser than blue wrapping paper. The above writer and 
others, having been feasted by the Indians for some time on 
these cakes, found them somewhat dry at first in the mouth, 
but quite sweet and easily chewed, and a real luxury eat( n 
with the juice of preserved peaches. The Indians often mix 
their newly ground corn with pieces of meat, and red and 
green peppers, and put between soft corn husks and boil them. 



214 INDIAB COK\ AXD ITS CULTURE. 

Corn cakes are among the choice specimens of American 
cookery throughout. They require finely ground meal, 
■which is usually sifted. If the meal is scalded the night be- 
fore the batter is made, they may be wholesome and sweet, 
if only mixed with salt and water, and baked on a griddle, or 
in a bake pan over a brisk fire. But they will be lighter for 
a little baking-powder, or soda and acid, in the right pro- 
portions stirred in, so as to gain the full effect of the effer- 
vescence. Tartaric acid, or vinegar, or still better, sour milk 
or buttermilk answers very well for the acid. An egg or two 
to the quart of batter, broken in, makes the cake superb. 
The effect of scalding the meal over night is to make it sweet- 
er, by inducing the saccharine fermentation. If the batter 
is thin, the cakes may be baked rapidly over a hot fire ; if 
thick, slower baking over a slower fire is better. When the 
batter is mixed with buckwheat, or coarse flour, or fine, the 
flavor may be improved. For sedentary persons, or those 
subject to constipation, a liberal addition to the batter of 
wheat bran is a great improvement. Cakes of a remarkably 
delicate taste are sometimes made of the fine flour of corn- 
meal sifted through a gauze sieve. Eggs, butter, sour milk 
and soda are usually added. What does not pass through 
the sieve makes a very fine samp. 

The common bran sifted out of corn-meal, thrown into 
water, will separate into two portions; the broken epidermis 
remaining for a time on the surface ; the coarser and more 
oily parts of the kernel sinking to the bottom. The latter, 
after considerable boiling, is very liutritive and agreeable to 
the taste. 

(/) — Hasty pudding or mush has been a staple article of 
American cooking from time immemorial. The Apaches, 
one of the tribes inheriting the ancient Indian customs, cook 
their mush in flat, water-tight wicker baskets. Wooden tongs 
with charred ends, are used to throw into the presumably 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS' CULTURE. 215 

wet mass, stones heated very hot, which are incrusted with 
this rudely mixed batter, and taken out when cooked ; new 
ones being put in. The stones are then reHeved of the cook- 
ed mush adhering to them, and the process continued till the 
meal is all cooked; when the family are gathered round and 
scoop out the contents with their fingers. This is very much 
like South Sea Island cookery. 

Carl Heller speaks of corn-meal boiled in water, with va- 
rious roots, as one of the standing Mexican dishes. Our 
Puritan ancestors, for many years after they landed at 
Plymouth are reported to have made their suppers on mush 
and milk. Acting on different principles from those of un- 
dying hate, life-long revenge, torments for the poor captive, 
and punishing the guilty by slaughtering the innocent, which 
have been the main causes of the thinning out of the savages 
and the slow advance of their arts of living, these fathers of 
our social progress could afford to cook their mush in geome- 
trically shaped kettles, and eat it out of nicely glazed bowls, 
with handsome plated spoons. As now commonly cooked 
in the United States, the water in the kettle is first brought to 
aboil, and the sifted meal then stirred in gradually, and salt- 
ed, stirring all the time to break the lumps, and secure an 
equal distribution of the heat. Mush is best made thin, and 
allowed to boil some time after the materials have been wt- 11 
stirred together. Cold mush is capital, cooked up with milk, 
or fried in lard. Mush and milk is an excellent diet for 
young children to grow upon — and as an occasional dish for 
adults, is quite a luxury. Those wishing to inquire furUv r 
into the virtues of Ha^ty Pudding, are referred to Joel Bar- 
low's poem on the subject, which will be found in the ap- 
pendix to Allen's American Farm Book. 

{in ) — Some of the early English authorities have been dis- 
posed to give maize a low rank as a bread corn, asserting 
that it cannot be made into good bread without the fiddition 



210 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

of wheat or other flour. A few experiments made on this 
grain, or rather the meal, in Prussia many years ago, led to 
similar statements from that quarter. Tne Rural Cyclopedia 
asserted (1854) that in its various uses for human food, it was 
in almost all cases, more or less inferior to wheat flour, and 
was often mixed with that flour, like potato starch and bean 
meal, as downright adulteration; that many American farm- 
ers used it as bread corn only till they could aff'ord to grow 
wheat; and that the inhabitants of the maize countries in 
Continental Europe for the most part, used it only when pov- 
erty or some other form of stern necessity, prevented tliem 
from obtaining a better. He admits, however, the use in 
some parts of the Low Countries, of maize flour made into 
paste and fried with fat bacon, as ordinary food. The above 
work then quotes John S Bartlett, of the New York Albion, 
as "a very competent witness," who speaks highly of maize 
as a bread corn, and of its general use in the rural districts 
of the United States; as making children thrive and adults 
labor, with no aid from wheat ; as having no equal for gen- 
eral domestic use, where economy is kept in view, and as 
easily converted into puddings, cakes and bread; and as 
corn meal added to wheat bread, decidedly improving its 
quality, and causing it to be preferred at almost all American 
tables, giving a sweetness and freshness, unknown in purely 
wheat bread. 

The intimation made in works published a quarter of a cen- 
tury ago that the eaters of maize bread in Southern Europe 
belonged only to the poorer classes, was not very much 
against its usefulness. We all know what the humbler classes 
in France, Italy, Austria, Hungary and Greece have been 
doing since that time, and how much they have accomplished 
towards getting into the light even in Spain, one of the old- 
est of the European maize eating districts. Reliable au- 
thorities that characterized the upper classes as degraded and 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 217 

imbecile, spoke of the peasantry as a very fine race. Mr. 
Borrow, whose travels among the gipsies in that quarter ex- 
cited so much attention, described the manly and self-reliant 
character of the poorer classes in Spain, as very much in con- 
trast with the wealth and rank worshiping poor of England. 
One great difficulty in Spain, in establishing a permanent and 
enlightened government, has been the contempt in which the 
poor and proud Spaniards hold their leaders. The nature 
of the "depressing" influence of maize eating in America 
of which one of our agricultural writers speaks, was fairly 
exhibited in the history of the Pilgrim fathers. It was the 
kind of depression that rejected the teas and other luxuries 
of England when they became a badge of political slavery. 
It was the kind of depression which resulted from the break- 
fasts of George Washington, which were said to have been by 
rule four buttered corn cakes; and which was shown in the 
doings of the Green Mountain boys at Bennington ; and in 
the preference of Marion and his corps for a dinner of sweet 
potatoes roasted in the ashes in the woods and swamps of the 
Carolinas with liberty, to the rich feasts of the British officer, 
who was fastened by red tape to the feet of tyranny. 

Mr. Ben, Perley Poore, in his History of Agriculture, 
(U. S. Agricultural Report, 1866,) gives due credit to the de- 
pressing effects in the case of the old fashioned New Engend- 
ers, long lived and large hearted, whose maize and rye bread 
dinners, and mush and milk suppers distinguished them from 
their luxury loving descendants. The fact is, the grand truth 
that man does not live by bread, alone, has a great deal to do 
with the condition of a people ; much more than the kind 
of bread they eat. 

Some of the reasons why wheat as a bread corn should 

have the advantage of maize in cities and towns where the 

main reliance is on baker's bread, have already been stated. 

The fact that maize is especially prized for warm bread, and 

19 



218 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTUBE. 

wheat for cold, shows why it should have obtained predom- 
inance at a great many farm-houses, where the exigencies of 
the table require the bread baked sometime beforehand, and 
in comparatively large quantities. When cold corn bread is 
brought to the table, it is generally warmed over. The mix- 
ture of rye and Indian, or wheat and Indian were formerly 
baked in large quantities. 

It is true that once in a while an American farmer speaks 
with contempt of corn bread, but the abundance of old and 
new recipes for this article, often represented as producing 
something "splendid," or ''fit for a king," show how well it 
is appreciated in a great many quarters. At the tables of 
well to do farmers it has been common to have both wheat, 
and corn bread or cakes, at the choice of the participants, 
and so far as the author of this has had an opportunity to ob- 
serve, the warm corn bread was disposed of as quickly as the 
wheaten loaf. He has remarked the same thing at the best 
tables on Western Steamboats. A large proportion of hired 
men on farms in the United States (leaving out negroes, who 
have been great corn eaters) are either emigrants, or de- 
scendants of emigrants from the Northern European States, 
where maize is little cultivated, and its uses, (except in feed- 
ing animals,) comparatively little known. Between i83oand 
i860, about 4,800,000 alien passengers had reached the 
United States, of which more than one-third were entered 
on record as farmers or laborers, and probably nearly all of 
them unused to corn bread, or corn as food before their ar- 
rival here. Many of the Irish have a distaste for corn as food 
in any shape, unless it be that of roasting ears The Irish 
are remarkable for their adherence to old tastes and customs. 
Nearly the same proportion of emigrants from 1856 to 1868, 
of those whose occupations were noted, were farmers or 
laborers. Testimonials as to the use of corn meal for brend 
appear in the U.S. Reports for 1849 and 1853, from Vermont, 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 219 

Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, 
Maryland, Virginia, Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio. 

The difference between wheat and corn bread is more in 
bulk for the same weight, and general appearance than in 
amount of nutriment. What makes wheat flour swell so much 
with yeast is its gluten; the corresponding nitrogenous ma- 
terial in maize being zein, which in rising gives less bulk. 

Corn bread may be made with or without leaven. Per- 
haps the simplest form is the corn dodger, which is often 
merely scalded meal, made into dough with salt and water, 
and slowly baked in a bake-oven or otherwise. With plenty 
of buttermilk, it eats well, cold, for a bite, when one is hun- 
gry in the field. In the early settlements of West Kentucky 
it made a great part of the dinners of school children, when 
home was too far off, and too many hours in school were re- 
quired to admit of going home for a warm dinner. Another 
style of unleavened corn bread was mixed up of meal, salt 
and water, and spread on a smooth long board, and placed 
before a blazing fire in the old fashioned fire-place. The 
position of the board was carefully changed until the cakes 
or loaf were well done throughout, and without burning. 
The author remembers eating, more than half a century ago, 
from a loaf baked in this way, one evening at a log farm- 
house, where he stopped for the night on his way to college. 
It was very much relished. 

Corn-meal mixed with wheat or rye flour, makes very good 
bread, warm or cold. The rye and Indian corn bread was 
referred to by Plantagenet in describing the productions of 
New England in 1648. It requires long baking, but is quite 
agreeable and wholesome, eaten warm or cold. 

General Recipes for corn bread. — Unleavened, (i.) — One 
quart of sweet milk, a little salt, sufficient meal for very thick 
batter; let stand one hour or more, ready to bake; mixture 
should be thick enough to be taken up and rapidly moulded 



220 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

in the hand, without dropping back into the mass; if not, 
thicken or thin as required. Lay the dodgers in hot, well 
greased pans and bake in a well heated oven, in sheet iron, 
or better, cast iron pans. 

(2.) — Take half a gallon of milk, add one half tea-cup full 
of grease, (any meat fryings,) salt to suit, mix with water, 
stir well with the hands; make into pone about half an 
inch thick; put in a well greased pan and bake in a well 
heated oven. This for a family of three or four. 

(3.) — Take two quarts sweet milk, boil one quart, and while 
boiling, stir in as much fine Indian meal as will make a very 
stiff batter, add a spoonful of salt, and make very sweet with 
molasses. Butter a pan, pour the batter in, and the remain- 
der of the cold milk on it. Cut little bits of butter and put 
on top, and bake two hours in a moderate oven. Said to 
taste like custard. 

(4.) — Lightened corn bread. For a family of four persons, 
take one pint sweet milk, and one pint sour milk, y^ tea 
spoonful of soda, one table-spoonful of sugar, a lump of lard 
the size of a hen's egg, a table-spoonful of salt and two eggs, 
and stir in enough sifted corn-meal to make a stiff batter. 
Pour the batter into a stove pan, and bake in a hot oven one 
half to three-quarters of an hour. 

(5.) — Boil three quarts of water and thicken while boiling 
as for mush, as long as you can stir it; set off, when cool 
enough to bear the hand; work in one table-spoonful of salt, 
two of lard, two of molasses, and as much meal as you can 
smooth over. Let it rise six hours ; bake two hours in any 
old-fashioned Dutch oven by a fire place. 

(6.) — Scald one quart salted corn-meal; work when cool 
with the hands; add one table-spoonful of yeast, three of mo- 
lasses, and wheat flour to mould with ; let stand till it cracks 
on top ; bake one hour. 

(7.) — Lightened pone. — Pour boiling water on a half gallon 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 221 

of corn-meal, mix to thick batter ; when cool enough, put in 
two table-spoonfuls of lively yeast, and one of salt ; stir well 
and set by the fire to rise ; put in pan when light enough, and 
bake in a stove oven. 

(S.) — Slcajned mixed bread. Two cups corn-meal, one cup 
flour, one cup sweet milk, one cup sour milk, half cup sugar 
or molasses, one tea-spoonful soda, and another of salt ; steam 
three hours. — Splendid. 

(9.) — One pint corn-meal, one pint wheat flour, one table 
spoonful salt, half tea cup sugar, one tea-spoonful soda; mix 
well and add buttermilk to make a thick batter; then add two- 
thirds cup melted lard and two eggs, stir thoroughly, pour into 
pans well greased ; the batter being one inch thick, bake in 
a quick oven twenty minutes, and serve hot. 

(10.) — One egg, three cups meal, one cup flour, one cup 
molasses, two cups buttermilk, a little salt. Dissolve a tea- 
spoonful of soda in a little cold water, and stir in just before 
pouring into the pan; bake rather briskly. 

(11.) — Scald the meal, mix the batter with milk, add one 
egg and a little lard, with a tea-spoonful of soda, stir well to- 
gether ; bake three quarters of an hour. 

(12.) — Scald at night two handfuls meal and a coffee cup 
full of new milk ; wrap close in a table-cloth. In the morn- 
ing put a cup of tepid water over this and stir in flour to make 
it of a proper thickness. For salt-rising bread, add a little 
salt and keep warm until it rises. Bake by lo o'clock. 

(13.) — Boiled corn bread. Two cups corn-meal, one cup 
wheat flour, half cup molasses or brown sugar, one pint sour 
milk, one and a half tea-spoonfuls soda, one tea-spoonful 
salt ; mix well, put in a well greased tin pail, cover tight, set 
in a kettle of boiling water ; cover and boil two hours. 

A suitable portion of wheat bran stirred in corn bread and 
cakes makes them more wholesome, as it does wheat flour 
bread. 



222 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

(14.) — Indian corn pudding baked. Scald one pint sweet 
milk (do not let it boil,) tak-e a half pint of corn-meal, moist- 
en it with cold milk ; stir in the scalding milk, take one egg, 
beat well with sugar, add the milk to the egg and sugar, and 
stir into the pudding, spice it and add a little salt, and a piece 
of butter the size of an egg. Bake one hour. 

(15.) — Scald a quart of milk, steep a tea-cup full of Indian 
meal and three tea spoonfuls wheat flour in cold milk ; stir it 
into the boiling milk, add a tea-cup full of sugar, a tea-spoon- 
ful of cinnamon and half a tea-spoonful of salt. Mix and 
bake slowly four or five hours. Skim milk best for pudding. 

(16.) — Eoil one quart of milk, add nine great spoonfuls 
Indian meal, large cup of molasses and a small tea-spoonful 
of salt. Lumps all mashed, add one quart cold milk. Bake 
four hours in a moderate oven; eat with butter or salted cream. 

There is litde doubt, in looking over these recipes that 
very palatable bread and puddings can be made from corn- 
meal with the addition of a few ingredients easily obtainable 
at a farm house, or where one or two cows are kept; but 
they require some time and trouble, and the expense of fuel 
is something. The dishes thus prepared would not be easily 
salable as separate articles, especially by the side of the va- 
rious delicacies prepared from wheat flour. So that when- 
ever the demand at boarding-houses or restaurants, or at 
private tables is for ready prepared bread, corn-meal could 
not supply it as wheat flour could. But wherever articles for 
the table are habitually served up warm, the preparations 
from corn, including green corn, hominy and meal, may be 
made equally palatable, and a great deal more economical. 

An account of an experiment made at the instance of the 
Editor of the New York Albion, was (on the economical 
value of mush and milk) substantially as follows : He care- 
fully weighed out one pound of meal, and gave it to a per- 
son who understood the mode of cooking. In boiling, it ab- 



ISDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 223 

sorbed about five pints of water, which was added at inter- 
vals till the process was complete. The bulk was again 
weighed, and gave as the result four and a half pounds. 
Such was its power of expansion. Dividing the mass into 
portions, it filled four soup plates of ordinary size, and with 
a little milk and sugar, gave a plentiful breakfast to four serv- 
ants and children. According to this experiment, one pound 
of maize flour, costing one penny, would give breakfast to 
four persons at one farthing each. Adding to this another 
farthing for milk, sugar or butter, the breakfast would cost 
one half penny each, and would be an ample meal for fe- 
males and children. 

"Thousands of working men have gone to daily labor 
during the past winter with a much more scanty breakfast. 
Equally adequate for other meals, particularly supper. People 
in rural districts, instead of becoming tired of the article, 
become more attached to it. The principal auxiliaries of 
mush are sugar, molasses, treacle and butter; milk best of all, 
a small quantity of which gives it a most agreeable flavor 
and renders it highly nutritious." 

Some experiments were made in the fall of 1875 and the 
succeeding winter on various articles of food, the quantities 
and cost of the different articles used being carefully noted 
from day to day, and the results as to health &c. — Among 
these were, 

Ist.— One week (Oct 12 to 18, inclusive) on wheat flour C lbs. costing 25 cts. 
made into griddle cakes with wheat bran 3 cts., vinegar, salt and soda 3 cts., 
and ienion cakes, ." cts., mutton 2)-^ lbs. 15 cis., herring 5 cts., corned beef S cts., 
tea, coti'ee and sugar, 14 cts. ..... Total 70 cts. 

Ouc or two hours daily exercise, most of tlie time reading and writing. In- 
digestion. 

2d.— One week (Oct 30 to Nov 5. inclusive) white flour bread bought at bakers 
% fresh, % stale 143^2 loaves, (>! cts., tea and sugar 10, meat 15, Total 89 cts. 
tine or two iiours daily exercise, most of time reading and writing — good di- 
gestion, but tendency to costiveuess. 

3d.— One week (Rept 20 to Sept 27,) on mush from three quarts corn-meal 
costing 9% cts., and ^^ quart wheat bran 1 ct., bacon 1% lbs. SlJ^g cts , tea, sugar 
iind .salt. 13cls. ....... Total 55 cts. 

Five lidurs hard work every other day, rest of time except sleep, reading and 
writing.— Very good health. 



224 INDIAN COKN AND ITS CULTURE. 

4th. — One "week (Sept 27 to Oct 4,) on com cafeesfrom six quarts Indian meal 
at 5fl.0O per bushel, IS'J^ cts., wheat bran say 4^^ cts.. salt, vinegar and soda'icts. 
corned beef 13^2 lbs. 10 cts., tea and sugar 13 ets. . . Total 4Scts. 

fcome hard work, reading and writing, and health. 

5th.— One week (Nov 2S to Nov 30,) rye-meal 13 cts., corn-meal 10 cts., beef 
bo ue and pork Sets., tea, coffee, sugar and apples lb CIS. . . Total 43 cts. 
Urisk exercise and good health. 

6th.— One week (Dec 1 to Dec 7, inclusive) corn-meal cakes from 7% quarts 
meal 17 cts., wheat bran 3)^ cts., tea, sugar and soup 8 cts., one loaf wuite flour 
bread C cts. ........ Total 34>aCts. 

Copying.— Good health. 

7ih.— One week on parched corn from 14}<j ears of maize S}i cts., tea and 
sugar 034 cts. ....... Total 15 cts. 

The corn was first parched ; then beaten fine and sifted, 
and the coarser parts boiled again. But little exercise Avas 
taken ; there was a feeling of the want of usual vigor, but 
no hunger or material falling off in flesh. It would answer 
very well for an occasional week of fast. 

8th.— Two days (Jany 10 and 11, 187f>,) on pop-corn 2% pints shelled, costing 
6 cts., tea, sugar and apples 5 cts. l"or two days 11 cts., or 532 tts. per day. 

The seventh of the above experiments is only valuable in 
showing what can be done in cases of extremity to sustain 
life (as in times of prevailing famine,) or in very peculiar 
circumstances requiring close application with very scanty 
means of support. It has been stated in r.egard to certain 
students of Divinity, who afterwards became active and 
prominent ministers, that during part of the term of study, 
their food cost only ?5.oo a year. This would be nearly at 
the rate of ten cents per week. Probably the quantity con- 
sumed was greater, and the price per bushel less than in the 
above experiment. 

As to the first six experiments — their value is chiefly re- 
ferrible to special cases of a different character, as where one 
is deeply in debt, and finds the best way to get out is by 
economy in the style of living • or when one of narrow means 
wishes to indulge in the luxury of giving liberally to some 
good object; or when one of slender income is occupied with 
some useful enterprise that does not pay; or where a man 
with a growing family and moderate means is anxious to se- 
cure the ownership of a pleasant home. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 225 

For those who have secured a fair income, and especially, 
for those of ample means, a more liberal style of living has 
many advantages. A temperate use of the abundance with 
which the Ruler of the Universe has blessed this country is 
best for the individual, and for the society in which he moves. 
A somewhat liberal scale of expenditure is most favorable 
for the cultivation of one of the prime virtues of civilization 
— hospitality. It leads more, but is not necessary, to that 
kind interchange of civilities and good offices, which, with the 
cultivation of other virtues, extends one's influence most wide- 
ly and most usefully. For those professions and occupations 
which require for success, an extended acquaintance or a free 
intermingling with general society, even an expensive style of 
living is often an immediate advantage. This may be all right, 
if the individual spends only his own means, and not other 
people's or what ought to be other people's. As to high living, 
the example, and the effect on society at large are tobe consider- 
ed, as well as the means, honestly acquired, of the individual. 

When it is important or necessary to practice the strictest 
economy, the advantage of living on the preparations of the 
rnaize plant will be clearly seen. One of the most healthy 
and nourishing of these is the ear of sweet corn when it is 
getting a litde old, but before perfectly ripe ; the soft kernels 
being grated off the ear, and eaten with butter or rich soup. 
As the analysis of sweet corn by Dr. Salisbury has not yet 
been given, it is here annexed, being taken from an article in 
the Ohio Agricultural Report for 1858, by Mr. J. H. Klippart, 
whose name is so largely associated with the late progress of 
agriculture in Ohio. It is there quoted as Dr. Salisbury's 
analysis of this variety. In 100 parts, starch has 1 1.60 parts, 
gluten 462; oil 3. 60; albumen 1430; caseine5.84: dextrine 
24.82 ; fiber 11.24; sugar and extractive matter 14 62 ; water 
10.32. The extraordinary amounts of albumen, sugar and 
dextrine show remarkable qualities for nutriment and digesti- 



22G 



inhian corn and its culture. 



bility. Most of the starch seems to have been changed into 
dextrine ; becoming thereby more soluble ; but both together 
are much behind the ordinary proportion of starch in the 
corn grain. The large quantity of fiber seems due to the 
greater surface of the epidermis made by the shriveled con- 
dition of the grain. The nitrogenous matters here foot up 
24. 76. The same analyst gives pop corn, starch 46.90 parts, 
gluten (including some sugar,) 9.24, oil 6.96, albumen 5.02, 
caseine 2.50, dextrine 2.25, fiber 8. 50, sugar and extractive 
7.02, water 12.12. In his analysis of the Tuscarora variety, 
the gluten and oil are undetermined, but the albumen and 
caseine are reckoned at 11.04; the starch 48.90, sugar and 
extractive 10.00, dextrine 2.00, fiber 14.00 and water 13.68. 
(11.) — Sugar and sy7 up from maize. About the year 1843 it 
was found that tolerable syrup could be made from the ex- 
pressed juice of the maize stalk, cut at a proper time after 
plucking the ears for roasting ; and by planting so thick in the 
rows that the corn could not come to ear. A still larger 
quantity of juice could be expressed from stalks of a more 
convenient size. Mills were contrived of a more simple 
character than those used for grinding sugar cane, but work- 
ing on a similar principle. Experiments were made on a 
somewhat extended scale in the East and West. A report of 
the results in this line by John Beal, of New Harmony, Ind., 
appears in the U. S. P. O. Report, for 1843. He had the 
ground prepared as for other corn and planted in rows three 
feet apart, so as to leave the stalks three or four inches apart 
in the drills; the corn cultivated in the usual way, and kept 
clean. As soon as the ears began to form, or about the time 
they showed silk, they were pulled or cut off, and so from 
day to day as long as there appeared any disposition to form 
ears. It might be planted in the climate of New Harmony 
any time from April 15th to the last of June, and would ripen 
from August iSth to the last of September. When the blades 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 227 

began to die about the middle of the stalk, it was to be cut 
and the juice pressed out. The blades were stripped off when 
the stalk was ripe ; the instrument recommended for this was 
a hooked knife, the hook about four or five inches, semicir- 
cular, fitted on a straight tongue, suitable for driving into a 
wooden handle about twelve or fifteen inches long. One 
blow with this would cut off the top, and the same knife 
would cut the stalks at the ground. The tops and blades 
were to be secured for fodder, and the stripped stalks (just 
enough being cut for pressing that day) were carried to mill. 
This was composed of three wooden rollers fixed upright in 
a frame, similar to an apple mill. The center roller had a 
shaft run up through a frame of sufficient height for the lever 
which the horse turned it by, to clear a man's head. The 
center roller had cogs on it, working in holes in the two side 
rollers. The rollers were 14^ inches in diameter &c. 

When operating, these rollers crushed the stalks as they 
were passed through, and the juice was caught by a trough 
fixed underneath, and conveyed to a tub, to be carried to the 
boilers. The arrangements for boiling were such as to boil 
down the juice as rapidly as possible ; the granulation depend- 
ing on this. Mr. Beal boiled down the juice in about two 
hours, in three iron kettles from eight to ten gallons each, fixed 
in a brick arch, one kettle only immediately over the fire ; 
the blaze and heat passing under the other two, through flues 
four inches deep; the bottoms of the kettles only being ex- 
posed to the fire. The juice was first passed through a sieve, 
and lime-water, one table spoonful to a gallon added ; then 
put into the kettle farthest from the fire, and well skimmed 
before coming to a boil ; then passed to the next kettle, and 
fresh juice put in the first ; then passed to the last kettle over 
the fire, and l)oiled as rapidly as possible, and scum removed 
as fast as it appeared; the granulating point was when it would 
raise Fahrenheit's thermometer to between 238° and 240°. 



228 INDIAN COKN AND ITS CULTURE. 

At 2x8° it began to rise up, and would flow over the top of 
the kettle, if small portions were not then taken out with a 
ladle from time to time, and poured back again. At 225° 
or 226° it began to thicken and settle down in the kettle, 
not rising again. The heat was raised 12° to 14° more before 
finished ; which was known by a smell of burnt sugar, the 
difficult bursting of bubbles with puffs of steam rushing out, 
and (a small portion being taken between the thumb and 
finger, and moderately cooled) by the drawing of a thread 
more than half an inch long. Mr. Beal's syrup did not com- 
mence graining till from twelve to forty-eight hours after it 
was taken from the kettles. The syrup when cool was poured 
into common sugar or flour barrels, where it grained, and 
the molasses flowed out through a small hole in the bottom. 

The molasses was rather more acid than cane molasses 
generally is; twenty moderately grown stalks yielding a gallon 
of juice, from which one-tenth to one-eighth syrup was ob- 
tained ; one pint of syrup weighed one and a half pounds, 
and would yield by measure one-fourth molasses and three- 
fourths sugar. The stalks all raised on upland. 

The experiences of Messrs. Plummer, Deaderich, Adams, 
Humphrey and Tillotsons, in making sugar or synip from corn 
stalks, are also given in the U. S. P. O. Report for 1843-44, 
with methods and machinery somewhat differing from the 
above ; the places of trial being in different sections of the 
Union. The last named were Louisiana planters; and their 
experience was against the profitableness of the maize sugar 
planting, as compared with that of the cane. They speak 
of one great advantage the sugar cane has, in being planted 
only once in three, four or five years ; six to eight hogsheads 
of sugar the produce of one planting. Mr. Webb, of Wil- 
mington, disputed the inferences of Messrs. Tillotson from 
their experience of maize sugar planting. Perhaps it is more 
suited to the Northern stature and size of the stalk, than that 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTDEE. 229 

of the Southern; although it seems to be a general fact that 
saccharine matter forms more abundantly in Southern than 
Northern latitudes. The Mexicans and other Southern maize 
growing nations made what was called honey from the stalk 
hundreds of years ago. If the cane supply of sugar should 
ever be cut off from this country, or any part of it, it is very 
probable that either the maize or beet, or both, may in some 
degree be substitutes. 

(m.) — Whiskey from maize. The nature of strong liquors 
as drinks, seems to have been as well understood 2,600 years 
ago as it is now. It was King Lemuel's advice to give strong 
drink to him who is ready to perish. Its value for this pur- 
pose was appreciated when 140 were dying per day, of the 
Cholera, in one of its earliest visits to Cincinnati. Some who 
oppose its use as a beverage, employ it as a remedy in cases 
of Asthma, and other complaints. Modern science has found 
it beneficial in many of the arts, especially when the distil- 
lation is carried further, and it becomes alcohol. This is im- 
portant as a solvent in chemical analyses. It is one of the 
accepted agents for preserving valuable substances from 
decay or decomposition. A familiar instance of this is the 
substitution of whiskey for water in dissolving ink powders, 
— the ink will not freeze in that case. Those who are curious 
to know the processes of distillation, will find them in the 
American, one of the latest of the Encyclopedias. The 
consequences of its continued use as a beverage are too well 
known to need repetition here. The strength of the appetite 
for whiskey when once formed, finds a good illustration in the 
early military history of this country. The most common 
punishment for disobedience, lawlessness or unfaithfulness in 
a soldier, was stopping his allowance of whiskey ; as appears 
from the order books of some of the detachments that pro- 
tected the infant settlements in Ohio. 

The U. S. Government, in its earlier as well as later years, 



230 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

has encountered much difficulty in attempting to tax this 
article. Soon after the formation of the Constitution, Con- 
gress laid a duty on distilled spirits, and in 1794 meetings 
were held in Western Pennsylvania, which resulted in the 
organization of some seven thousand insurgents. The mar- 
shal of the United States was forced by armed men into an 
agreement to desist from the performance of his official duties. 
Fifteen thousand men were called out under President Wash- 
ington's requisition from the four States nearest the theater 
of insurrection, and marching under Gov. Lee soon made 
an end of the outbreak. 

In the late taxings of the manufactured article, under the 
United States laws, it was found that by makingthe tax $2.00 
per gallon the revenue from this source was greatly reduced. 
It was asserted by one of our most reliable journals, that at 
that time, the value of distilled liquor produced was not less 
than ^100,000,000. . The revenue was much increased by 
lowering the rate to fifty cents per gallon. 

The great maize growing States seem to abound most in 
products of distillation. The Mexicans and Peruvians made 
intoxicating liquor out of maize. So do the Indians of the 
far West. The Apaches in 1870 were said to make strong 
drink called tiswcen, out of maize. They soak the grain 
twenty-four hours, then dig a hole in the ground, generally 
in the wigwam, and cover the bottom with dry grass ; the 
corn is then laid in, and covered with grass; warm water is 
sprinkled over it four or five times daily; at night the family 
sleep on it to increase the heat caused by sprouting, and in four 
or five days it is ready for the next operation. It is then dried, 
pulverized, and boiled five hours, when cooled mixed with 
sugar and flour, and left to ferment for twelve hours, when it is 
ready to drink. The exports of whiskey are quite small in com- 
parison with the product. There is a large internal trade in 
the article. Much of the corn imported into Cincinnati is con- 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



231 



sumed by distillers. The United States Census for 1870, 
gives the following details as to the manufacture of distilled 
liquors: 



XLVIII. 



Census 
Year. 


Distille- Employ- 
ries. ees. 


Capital 
Employed. 


Riiw 

Material. 


Product. 


1850 
1800 
1S70 


968 
+ 1193 
t 719 


4008 
5416 
6131 


85.409,334 
ll,54b,675 
15,545,116 


§10,.543,201 
18,330,713 
19,729,432 


$15,770,240 
26,7(J.S,225 
36,191,133 



t Establishments. 

In 1850 there were also 38 rectifying distilleries producing 
$791,030. It is not stated how much of the raw material 
was corn. In 1870 the census gives the largest number of 
distilling establishments in the United States to Kentucky, 
141 ; the next largest to Pennsylvania, 108; the next to Ohio, 
6^. The largest amount in value was produced by Illinois, 
$7, 888,751; the next by Ohio, $7,022,656; the next largest 
by Pennsylvania, $4,618,228; and by Kentucky,$4,532,73o. 
Statements from Treasury Department of the United 
States for 1869, gave as the total number of gallons produced 
and accounted for during the year ending June 30, 1868, as 
16,396,351 ; and during the year ending June 30, 1869, 
56,183,577 ; and as the amount of the tax collections for 
the fiscal year ending June 30, 1870, $55,000,000. There 
was withdrawn of that which was produced prior to July i, 

1868, from bonded warehouse from that date to June 30, 

1869, in gallons 24,479,512 The revenue collections from 
spirits in 1875 were some $7,000,000 larger than those made 
for 1869. Alcohol was formerly used as a burning fluid, 
especially for cooking oysters. 

(iv.) — Starch frotn maize. Starch is made from wheat and 
potatoes as well as maize. It was one of the articles yield- 
ing revenue under the excise laws of the United States. 



232 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



Starch is manufactured for food as well as laundry purposes. 
In 1S63, the collections on that manufactured from corn, at 
the rate of i^ mills per lb., amounted to $11,763, pdcts., 
showing the quantity taxed to be 7,842,640 lbs. By the U. 
S. Census lor the three last decades, there were for making 
staich: 

XLIX. 



In year. 


Establisb- 
meuts. 


Employ- 
ees. 


Capital 
Invested. 


RaAV 
Material. 


Product. 


1850 
1860 
1870 


146 
167 
195 


694 
1073 
2072 


$692,675 
2,051,710 
2,741,675 


$799,459 
1,380,000 
3,884,909 


81,261,468 
2,82o,'J58 
5,994,422 



In 1870 New York made the most starch, by Census 84,678,413. • 

For the various methods, new and old, of preparing starch 
from maize, and other raw materials, the reader is referred 
to the American Cyclopedia. 

(v.) — Oil from maize is more or less developed during its 
distillation for spirits, but little is said about it. The New 
England Farmer, of June, 1829, speaks of it as obtained 
from the mash, or that which is fermented for distillation. 
Two quarts of oil were obtained from four bushels of corn. 
It burned brilliantly ; was said, as a medicine, to be as effectual 
and mild as castor oil. The oil was separated, or made to 
rise on the tub, by a process accidentally discovered; the 
secret not disclosed. As long as we have petroleum and 
lard oil in such abundance, it is not likely to become an 
article of extensive manufacture. Dr. Jackson reported a 
little fixed drying oil found in the corn cob. 

(vi.) — Mattresses continue to be made from corn hu«:ks, and 
they are often used for re-filling beds. This use of the corn 
plant has been occasionally referred to in the U. S P. O. 
Reports. A correspondent from Memphis, Tennessee, in 
1849, says the husks were preferred to moss for mattresses, 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 233 

as being cleaner, and more easily manufactured. When 
mixed with coarse cotton, and properly prepared, they made 
a mattress little inferior to curled hair; the price being about 
50 gts. per cwt. Husks have been occasionally seen in the 
Cincinnati markets in bags. They are generally slit into 
narrow strips to make the mattress more elastic. Husks are 
braided into mats placed at the front doors of dwelling houses. 

(vii.) — Paper from, maize husks and stalks. (See U. S. P 
O. Report, 1863.) There were two manufactories of maize 
paper in the Eighteenth century. In 1802, Burgess Allison 
and John Harkins, of New Jersey, obtained a United States 
Patent for making paper of corn husks. In 1838, Homer 
Holland, of Westfield, Mass., obtained a similar patent. 
One was issued in i860 by the United States, for making 
pulp of corn cobs alone, or cobs and husks together. Re- 
cently, a Bohemian, having shown the Austrian Minister of 
Finance a process for maize paper making, which was tried 
at Schlogelmuhl by the Imperial paper mill, and proved a 
failure,— certain experiments on the fine husks enclosing the 
maize ear were continued till a new fiber for spinning and 
weaving was discovered; its waste being a material for cheap 
paper. The cloth produced was considered a good substitute 
for common flax and hemp linen, oil-cloth, tar-cloth, &c. 

The process developed fibers, flour dough and gluten ; the 
fibers were spun and woven, the flour dough made into 
agreeable and wholesome nutriment, and the waste, consist- 
ing of gluten and broken fibers, was made into paper. Good 
paper was also made of the maize cloth when reduced to rags. 
The steam boiler used for reducing and separating the ele- 
ments from the raw plant, was heated by fuel from the stalks. 

Among the resulting manufactures at the Imperial mill at 
Schlogelmuhl, which have been quite a success, are strong 
and durable parchment, and document papers ; very trans- 
parent and tenacious tracing papers, ("an effect of the natural 
20 



234 IJIDTAN CORN AND ITS CULTTTKE. 

gluten of the husks ; ") and very cheap letter paper of vari- 
ous styles and colors, with a smooth and polished, but soft 
surface, which takes the ink kindly ; chancery papers of great 
variety, the size very heavy and durable ; beautiful silk paper 
of several colors, of wonderful delicacy in structure and 
finish ; paper for making artificial flowers, in lilac, rose, blue, 
green and brown, gossamer like, yet strong, weighing but six 
pounds to the ream, and cigarette paper seven pounds to the 
ream. Of most of these varieties, both machine and hand 
papers are produced. The peculiarity of this paper is due 
to the large proportion of gluten it contains. The process 
of manufacture is simple; the humblest laborer, with a little 
instruction, understanding and practicing it with success. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

CLIMATE SUITED TO MAIZE CULTURE. 

Climate, as relating to the culture of Indian corn has respect 
to solar heat, air and moisture, and the various conditions 
of growth and health, vegetable and animal, arising there- 
from. This may be thought a broader definition than the 
case requires; but when we remember how much depends, 
for the success of this crop, on steady and timely industry in 
the processes of culture during the very months when the 
most fatal climatic diseases are the most prevalent, we will 
see the importance of including salubrity of climate among 
the more important conditions. Keeping in view what has 
already been stated touching these climatic relations, under 
the heads of Analysis, Distribution, History, Statistics, Va- 
rieties and Uses, and referring especially to what has been 
said on the subject in pages 17, 34, 35, 138, 141 and 144. we 
may find it sufficieiit to set forth some of the more important 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 



principles underlying the relations of climate to culture. So- 
lar heat depends on the latitude, the elevation above the 
sea, the nature of the surface, the position as regards the 
ocean, or large bodies of water, or chains of mountains. 

The atmosphere has an average height and character, 
which long ages do not seem to alter essentially, although 
there are constant changes going on within its limits. The 
quantity of moisture accessible to plants depends on the na- 
ture of the prevaiHng winds, as influenced by the above 
named causes, producing rainfalls; or it is affected by the de- 
posit of dew, or the capability of the land for irrigation. 
The subject is fully discussed, and the chief points made clear 
by apt illustrations in various articles in the U. S. P. O. and 
Agricultural Reports, among wl^ich maybe especially noted, 
Climatology in the Volumes for 1853-54. Meteorology and 
Agriculture, for '55, '56, '57, '58, and '59, the last four by 
Prof. Henry; and Prof. Poiiy, for 1869-70, and tables of 
variations of temperature and rainfall, in most of these 
reports from 1849 to 1870. 

Electricity has some bearing on the subject, and its lead- 
ing principles are explained by Prof. Henry in that for 1859 
— also the subject of atmospheric humidity, by J. S, Lip- 
pincott, in the Report for 1865. 

As the fodder from the maize plant, and the crop grown 
especially for the fodder are becoming, more and more, import- 
ant parts of our subject, the limits of successful culture, as 
depending on the ripening of the grain, may be considered 
as transcended in various quarters. But confining the present 
discussion to the maize climate of North America, the state- 
ment of the maize limits by Mr. Blodget, in carrying out his 
theory of the 68° mean heat for July, as the fixed require- 
ment for its profitable cultivation, will be an important aid to 
the inquiry. All South of the limiting line he considers 
within the maize region, except some mountainous tracts in 



23G INDIAN CORN AND IT9 CULTURE. 

Northern New England and New York, some parts of Canada 
West, and nearly all those parts of the Great Western plains 
and the Rocky Mountain system, which are incapable of ir- 
rigation, or arrest no water from the mountain sides. Be- 
ginning at the Atlantic coast at the Bay of Fundy, and the 
valleys of New Brunswick near the 46th parallel of latitude, 
and extending from West longitude 64° to 67°, thence to the 
higlilands of Maine below 45°, and in New Hampshire to 
44°, thence ascending to 47^° at St. Ann's, near Quebec on 
the St. Lawrence in West longitude 72°, thence to 82° West 
longitude at Lake Huron in the river valleys, and favorable 
locations up to latitude 46°. We have now reached an ele- 
vated region, which, as well as the influence of the Great 
Lakes, reduces the midsummer heat so as to bring the limit 
ing line down to 45°, which continues almost to the Missis- 
sip[)i. It then rises abruptly to latitude 50°, near where the 
Red River of the North empties into Lake Winnepeg, where 
a lower surface makes the climate warmer in 97° West lon- 
gitude. This is supposed to be its highest latitude, giving on 
that Meridian 23° of latitude for the development of the 
maize plant in the United States, and 35° for North America, 
fully equaling in value any other. Westward of 97° the 
range is irregular and exceptional. Special points on the 
upper Missouri admit of maize culture to the base of the 
Rocky Mountains as far as 47^° North latitude, and to the 
same latitude on the West of that chain ; and the lower val- 
leys of the North fork of the Columbia carry it up to Fort 
Colville near 49°, Mr. Blodget here remarks, that "much 
the larger portion of this great elevated interior mass South- 
ward to New Mexico admits but a partial and imperfect cul- 
tivation," and that ' W 120° of longitude the maize range ceases 
for all latitudes on this continent, but between 97° and 120° the 
whole continent is embraced, south of the points just nnmed, 
and with the exceptions mentioned as belonging to all the 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 237 

Rocky Mountain plateau north of New Mexico." As ex- 
ceptions to tlie statement italicised^ of the maize range ceasing 
for all latitudes on this continent, the valley of the San Joa- 
quin and Sacramento rivers in California, are stated by the 
same writer on the second page previous, as having a suffi- 
ciently high and equable summer temperature ' for the 
growth of Indian corn, or one great enough to render the 
cin-ve of daily change unimportant as an obstacle." The 
Pacific coast line, from Puget's Sound to San Diego, has a 
very low mean summer temperature throughout, "no montli 
attaining a mean of 65°, the July mean being under 60° from 
the ocean to the coast range of mountains; the low points 
of which, are the occasion of the same low temperature 
reaching the interior as far as the chief mountain ranges. 

* Later statements, including some accounts of recent 
maize culture in California, and some accounts of the silk 
culture there, in the U. S. Agricultural Report for 1868, 
giving statements of temperature, must be admitted as modi- 
fying the above. It is there stated, that "all of California, 
except a strip within fifteen miles of the ocean, from Point 
Conception to Cape Mendocino, and forty miles wide north 
of Mendocino, and the mountains more than 3,0 o feet 
above the sea, is suitable for the silk worm," which thrives 
best, "other things being equal, in a place where the thrr- 
niomcter reaches 65° in May, and stands about 75° in June 
and July, as it does at Los Angelos, and nearly all parts of 
the Sacramento Basin." 

The exceptions due to the Rocky IMountain plateau, mny 
be more apparent after a few general statements as to the 
whole face of the country of the United States. Extending 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, it has two great mountain 
systems, or swells of Innd; the Alleghany, averaging 3 000 
feet above the sea, nearly parallel to the former coast; and 
the Rocky Mountains to the Coast Range, averaging about 



238 INDIAN CORJf AND ITS CITLTFRK. j. 

5,000 feet elevation, pressing hard on the latter. Individual 
ranges and peaks, however,, have in each system, a very much 
higher elevation than the average. From the South to the 
North, these spread apart, leaving the great Mississippi valley 
in the middle. It slopes down to the Gulf of Mexico, from 
a dividing ridge about 1,200 feet above the sea. Beyond 
the sources of the Mississippi, the lower land slopes north- 
ward, with the basin of Hudson's Bay, and the valley of 
Mc Kenzie's River, to the Arctic Ocean ; making a path for 
the Polar winds. From the Gulf of Mexico come up the 
south and south-west winds, laden with rain clouds from that 
great evaporator, to fertilize the eastern half of the United 
States; the Allegany ridges being nearly in their direction, 
and suffering them to passon either side. This eastern, rainy- 
half extends west to about the pSth meridian of longitude 
west of Greenwich, West of that, except on the Pacific 
coast, and on the mountain sides, the general tendency is 
towards dryness — in some jdaces of an extraordinary char- 
acter. This has been supposed to be .owing to the lofty coast 
and rocky ranges preventing the free passage of the rain 
bearing winds from the Pacific, or perhaps robbing them of 
their vapor in passing eastward ; the fall of rain on the west- 
ern mountain sides throwing out the latent heat, which ex- 
pands the current of air, and throws it iip higher; so that 
with its remaining vapor, it passes over the inferior middle 
ranges, and leaves the broad interval, except under special 
circumstances, without rain. 

It has been said that more rain falls -since the completion 
of the Pacific Railroad. Irrigation has been tried, with great 
success, in many places where rains either did not full, or 
could not be relied on. Crops of the smaller grains have in 
many instances been enonnous. Wheat, bearing so much 
higher prices, would be apt to engross very much more of 
the farmer's labor and capital than maize ; for which, even in 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 239 

fattening hogs, a substitute has been found in barley. Ex- 
periments, widely and perseveringly instituted^ will be much 
safer ground for generalization, as to the climatic relations of 
maize to this new and vast region, than meteorological theo- 
ries in the present state of the science ; especially as those re- 
lations are very much controlled by local peculiarities. The 
native Indians, by planting in holes ten or twelve inches be- 
low the surface, have made even the arid table lands yitld 
this grain abundantly, and the Mormons of the Salt Lake 
valley have don-e the same through irrigation. This valley 
is a depression, surrounded by mountains, which bring down 
some rain. The Smithsonian weather tables for 1868, give 
Great Salt Lake City a rainfall, including melted snow, in 
May of 2.36 inches, in June 4.00, in August 369, in January 
2.44,; that on the hills in Cincinnati for those months of 
i868 being respectively 6.09; 5.60 ; 4.64 ; and 372. 

Wanship in Utah, has less rain ; 1.45 in January, 0.70 in 
February, 2 inches in March, and 1.40 in December. Maize 
was said to be a good crop in S. W. Utah. The rains in Cali- 
fornia, as indicated by the few returns for 1868, commenced 
with 0.34 inches in October, and increased to 8 50 in Jan- 
uary, and diminished to 0.23 in June; there being next to 
none in July, and none at all in August and September. The 
three places of observation were San Francisco and Mon- 
terey on the coast, and Murphy's probably in the interior. 

From another table given in the same volume, in connec- 
tion with an article on the silk culture, and the remarks ac- 
companying it, it appears that there is no rain in the summer 
in California, and little in autumn, but there is considerable 
in the spring, mainly in March ; the heaviest being in winter. 
A writer in U. S. P. O. Report, i866, states that along the 
rivers in the interior, much bottom land has always yielded 
maize grain abundantly. But where these rivers are supplied 
from the snows of the sierras, the lands suitable for corn 



240 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

raising are liable to overflow, as late as April, and sometimes 
in May, when the early hot weather sets in. In the valleys 
in the coast district, corn is raised in many places, the yield 
being large, and the crop certain. The same favorable con- 
ditions appear in the southern parts of the State, where the 
soil has sufficient moisture through the summer season. The 
most famous place for growing maize was stated to be the 
Russian River Valley, in Somona County. 

In the report for 1869, corn was said to make good crops 
in many of the valleys of western Oregon, "the warm, dry 
summer weather of that region being adapted to its growth and 
maturity." It fails in Washington Territory for want of higli 
summer temperatures. In Arizona, according to Gov. Saf- 
ford, an average of thirty to sixty bushels to the acre, 
and with high culture 105 bushels, are obtained. It is a staple 
in New Mexico, growing wherever irrigation is possible. 
The maize crop in Colorado for 1869 reached 600, 000 bushels. 
It thrives in the mild climates of Montana. Dakota produces 
all the grains of the north-western States abundantly. Be- 
fore the grasshoppers cut down the maize crops, they were a 
great success in Kansas and Nebraska. The report on the 
Public Domain in the U. S. P. O. Report, 1868, confirms 
these statements. One passage in that report is significant 
with regard to the general crops of the so called Desert re- 
gion. "The Jesuits, in commencing to cultivate the soil in 
the Bitter Root Valley, (Montana,) about twenty-five years 
ago, could raise scarcely anything; but continued experiment 
developed the proper course to be pursued, and the grounds 
in that region which at one time refused to yield, are now 
prolific with splendid crops; the incoming setders having 
profited by the experience of their predecessors." Wheat 
was the main product there. 

The facts of production already adduced, as to the maize 
districts east of the 98th meridian of longitude west of 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CDLTURB. 241 

Greenwich, render it almost unnecessary to bring testimony 
as to the climatic capabilities of maize south of the limiting 
line marked out by Mr. Blodget. Nearly the whole of this 
immense region is within the belt of rains, although occasional 
droughts prevail near the time of ripening, and some districts 
are subject to early or late frosts. Some of the districts where 
the climate is said to be too severe for the profitable maize 
cultivation of grain, are the high dividing ridge in Vermont 
and its northern counties bordering on Canada. In 1851 it 
was said to be a very uncertain crop in Washington County, 
Maine, latitude 45° near the eastern boundary of the State. 
At Cornishville, York Co., Maine, in about latitude 43^°, 
in the interior, near the Saco river, it was the most import- 
ant crop by far; the usual crop being forty bushels to 
the acre. 

It appears then that the United States territory proper, 
with the exception of a few very elevated districts, as far as 
temperature is concerned, has an average climate eminently 
suited to maize culture. How is it with the supply of moist- 
ure! As far as rainfall is concerned, this depends very 
largely on the winds. The principal rain bearing winds are 
from the south-west and south, loaded with vapor from the 
Gulf of Mexico. The Allegheny mountains lie in the range of 
the direction of the south-west, and the Mississippi river nearly 
in the direction of the south wind. These are aided by 
evaporation from the great lakes, and to some extent from 
the Pacific ocean. In the extreme south, the north-east trade 
winds have some effect. On the Pacific coast the equatorial 
winds traversing the great western ocean, come in abundant 
supply, but to a large extent seem to leave their moisture on 
the western side of the coast range. A large part of the 
equatorial heated winds, which rise near the equator to the 
top of the atmosphere, and flow north-eastward, come down 
to the surface of the earth in about latitude 30°, and curve 
21 



242 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

round in a contrary direction, but some flow over towards 
the poles and become south-west winds. That portion which 
passes up the coast, gives it a temperature for hundreds of 
miles abnormally equable and warm, and fills it with vapor. 
It seems to be different with that portion which passes over 
the coast range towards the overheated plains in summer. 

'J he atmosphere is supposed to be about fifty miles high, 
but the denser half of its substance is said to be included in a 
stratum next the surface of the earth about three and two-fifth 
miles deep, and one-third of it to be beneath the level of the 
Rocky mountains. The coast range is not much lower, and 
if this south-west wind in meeting it, is sufficiently cooled to 
lose its vapor in rainfall on the mountain side, it is so much 
expanded by the heat set free in condensation (according 
to the law that a body passing from the state of a rarer to a 
denser medium, throws out heat,) that it rises up high, and 
passes over the ranges desiccated. This is somewhat accord- 
ing to Mr. Espy's rain philosophy. Eut whatever the causes 
may be, it is this far western portion of the United States, 
except on mountain sides, and in choice situations, that lacks 
rain— the interval between the two great ranges, and that 
portion of the great plain west of the looth meridian, and 
not affected by the melting of snows on the Rocky mountains. 
But there irrigation does wonders. 

The results deduced from actual observations as to the di- 
rection and amount of winds in different sections of the 
Union, are given in Prof. Henry's article on Meteorology in 
the U. S. P. O. Report, for 1856, as based on materials 
worked out by Prof. Coffin of Uafayette College, in connection 
with the Smithsonian Institute. They are illustrated, each 
section, by regular diagrams, one representing the summer, 
and the other the winter winds of each section. Lower 
California for the summer is visited by winds almost entirely 
from the south-west; in the winter fiom all parts of the horizon, 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 243 

but rather the most from north and west. Oregon and Wash- 
ington Territories, in summer mostly from the north-west ; in 
winter from the south-east, but still largely from the north- 
west. Texas and New Mexico, in summer chiefly from the 
south ; in winter from the north, with considerable from the 
south. Nebraska and Kansas, in summer, chiefly from the 
south, the south-west preponderating; in the winter from the 
north-west. South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Missis- 
sippi, in summer mostly from the south and south-east ; in 
winter, the winds nearly equal all round. Illinois, Wiscon- 
sin and Iowa, in summer from the west and south ; in winter 
there is more wind from the south, and still more from the 
north-west; the latter would seem to be part of the polar 
current. In Pennsylvania, the summer winds are mainly 
from the west ; in the winter they change somewhat in favor 
of the north west. In New York, the west winds prevail 
still more in summer; in winter, the north-west prevail. In 
New England, in summer the south-west prevail ; in winter 
the north-west. The valleys of the Hudson and St. Lawrence, 
and the basins of Lakes Ontario and Erie, allow a flow of air 
from the Mississippi Valley to affect the climate locally. All 
these are surface winds, governed in part by mountain ranges, 
or river valleys. To illustrate the latter, similar diagrams 
are given to show the winds at Hudson, N. Y., for eight 
years, north and south prevailing, this being the general di- 
rection of the Hudson River Valley on which it lies ; also of 
Albany, (12 years,) at the junction of the Mohawk with the 
Hudson, its winds being chiefly south and north-west. Those 
of Utica, (12 years,) on the east and west running Mohawk, 
are mostly from the west, some from the east. The Allegheny 
mountain range is said to deprive the easterly winds of moist- 
ure. The meteorological observations, though often affected 
by the local topography, have its results eliminated by com- 
puting the average direction from a number of stations within 



244 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

a limited distance of each other. "By collecting all the re- 
liable observations which have been made on the winds in 
the northern hemisphere, so far as accessible to the Smith- 
sonian Institute, Prof. Coffin has established the fact that the 
resultant motion of the surface atmosphere between latitudes 
32° and 58° in North America, is from the west; the belt 
being 20° wide, and the line of its greatest intensity in the 
latitude of about 45°. This however, must oscillate north 
and south at different seasons of the year with the varying 
declination of the sun. South of this belt, in Georgia, Loui- 
siana &c., the country is influenced at certain periods of the 
year by the north-east trade-winds, and north of the same 
belt by the polar winds, which, on account of the rotation of 
the earth, tend to take a direction toward the west." 

Mr. Russell, of Scotland, supposed all the atmospheric 
disturbances in this country resulted from the "unstable equi- 
librium occasioned by the superposition of the north-west 
wind on that of the south-west." 

As to the Smithsonian Isothermal lines of temperature; (of 
which the annual mean for 50°, the mean of summer for 70°, 
and that of winter for 30°, are given herein on pages 144-5,); 
the mean annual for 40° commences near northern Nova 
Scotia, diverges gradually from parallel of latitude 45°, in its 
course through Canada and Lake Superior, till about the 95th 
meridian, it curves faster northward and leaves the United 
States for British America at about longitude 103°. The 
mean annual for 60° from near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, 
passes a little downward toward the 35th parallel of latitude . 
till about the meridian of 98°, then rises rapidly to the north 
to its greatest altitude at the 115th meridian, then gradually 
southward to the 125th, thence with a very short bend, goes 
parallel to the coast to latitude 34°. The mean annual for 
70° passes from latitude 28° on the Florida coast, through 
New Orleans, to a point on the Pacific in latitude 30°. It 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 245 

curves upward in passing through the gulf, showing that New 
(Jrleans is warmer than a corresponding place on the Atlantic 
or on the shores of Texas. It then curves rapidly north, 
showing the greatest temperature near the eastern edge of the 
mountain system. It ends on the Pacific, two degrees higher 
than where it began on the Atlantic. In all these descriptions 
it must be kept in mind that the temperatures shown are such 
as would be true were the whole reduced to the level of the 
ocean. 

The summer line of 80° passes from Charleston S. C. rapidly 
upward through the valley of the Mississippi, showing a much 
higher summer heat in the interior on this parallel, than at 
the sea. The western part shows great summer heat in the 
mountain system, and great uniformity along the coast range 
parallel to the Pacific. The winter line for 40°, starting from 
the mouth of the Chesapeake, and following nearly the same 
general direction as that for 30°, meets the Pacific near Pu- 
get's Sound, giving this place, and Norfolk, on the Atlantic, 
about the same winter temperature. The winter lines for 
50° and 60° are similar to the last, giving the Gulf less win- 
ter heat than the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. In reducing 
these lines to the level of the sea, 333 feet of elevation an- 
swer to each degree of Fahrenheit. 

The great heat at the equator going down into the depths 
of the ocean, is supposed to expand its waters there, so that 
they stand higher than at the poles, occasioning warm surface 
currents from the equator towards the north and south, which 
are cooled, and eventually sink to the bottom, and then re- 
turn, and so on. But as the earth turns on its axis eastwardly, 
the bottom currents flowing towards the equator from parts 
moving slower to parts moving faster, would fall behind into 
a westerly direction and ascend obliquely, and go back 
towards the pole, curving eastwardly. More or less of the 
upper current would keep on in an oblique northerly course 



246 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

and now and then descend, some nearly reaching the poles. 
The four great ocean currents, of which there is one north 
and the other south of the equator, in the Atlantic and also 
in the Pacific, are thus partly accounted for; though Prof. 
Henry thinks them mainly due to the winds in the equatorial 
belts and the two temperate zones. 

The Gulf Stream, passing from the equator along the At- 
lantic coast of the United States over towards that of north- 
ern Europe, warms up Great Britain and Norway into some- 
thing very different from the climate of Labrador ; and the Pa- 
cific current flowing along the Asiatic coast, probably does the 
same for Alaska, before it cools off, and returns by our west- 
ern coast to be heated up again. It is on a similar principle 
that the trade winds and other currents of the great aerial 
ocean are formed ; the rotation of the earth giving an oblique 
eastward direction to the heated and expanded equatorial 
airs, moving down inclined planes toward the poles; and an 
oblique westward direction to the cold polar airs moving up 
inclined planes in the direction of the equator. 

One of the most important subjects connected with climate, 
is the earth's radiation of heat. It is constantly receiving 
during the day, and giving out during the day and night. In 
the long days of summer it receives more than it gives off, 
and accumulates heat, so that instead of its beginning to grow 
colder as soon as the days begin to shorten, the effect of the 
previous heating continues till more is radiated than received, 
which occurs about the 25th of July, or later. But the ra- 
diated heat is less penetrating than the solar rays, and can- 
not readily pass through masses of vapor in the atmosphere ; 
consequendy in a humid climate like that of our narrow Pa- 
cific coast line, the temperature is remarkably equal)le 
throughout the year, and through five or six parallels of lati- 
tude. The haze from Lake Erie has some such influence in 
northern Ohio, not only in preventing frosts after cold nights^ 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CrLTURE. 247 

but in arresting the effects of frost that has actually fallen. 
But to the great dry plains, the radiation brings cold nights 
after very hot days, sometimes making a difference of 60° in 
twenty-four hours between the high and low temperatures. 
Forests are supposed to do much towards preventing exces- 
sive radiation, although when they prevent the evaporation 
of standing water, they hinder the absorption of heat by 
the soil. 

But deep culture, and especially subsoiling, make way for 
the reception and storing away of heat, and fall and winter 
crops growing, including grass, may greatly diminish ra- 
diation. Some have credited our Indian summers to radia- 
tion. One of the conditions of successful maize culture, 
healthful summers, admitting of timely and persevering field 
work, is promoted by the absorption through the vegetable 
world, of surplus heat. 

What is called the belt of equally distributed rains in the 
United States, extends from 95° west longitude, to the At- 
lantic, between the 38th and 45th parallels of latitude, and 
here the prevailing winds are from the west. It is remarked 
of this 'that the rain falls in frequent showers during the sea- 
son, when the wants of vegetation require it." (See Ohio Agri- 
cultural Report, 1858.) Sometimes however, they come too 
heavily, as in 1857^ when the continued warm rains in au- 
tumn, caused the rotting in the field of millions of bushels 
of corn, and the destruction of the germ next the cob in mil- 
lions more, where the outer appearance was fair. 

Farmers in search of locations in new districts, will do well 
to study carefully the meterological tables proper to them, 
that is, if the observations have been made extensively, re- 
peatedly and carefully. Hasty conclusions from imperfect 
data are always unsafe. But knowing the latitude, longitude, 
elevation above the sea, character of surface, direction of 
the winds, and the relation of the place to river valleys, large 



248 



INDIAN COBN AND ITS CFLTTTRB. 



bodies of water and chains of mountains, the close observer 
will be apt to choose a location favorable to permanent suc- 
cess. But the extensive opening up of new farms, by sub- 
jecting the sod of centuries^ covering large tracts, to de- 
composition, often fills the air with malaria, and makes them 
for the time being unhealthy. After this process of decom- 
position has become tolerably complete, salubrity will proba- 
bly return, if other causes do not make the region perma- 
nently unhealthy. 

As to the bearing of minor causes on maize culture, such 
as the aspect of a hill-side with regard to the sun and winds, 
earlier planting and earlier ripening often belong to loca- 
tions sloping sunward, and perhaps more security against 
drought, to northern or north-eastern hillsides. When the 
cold winds come from the north-west, a slope towards the 
south-east is often a protection, unless the course of the wind 
is circuitous. The cold air often settles in deep valleys at 
night, while the neighboring hilltops are comparatively warm, 
which may be the result of greater radiation in the lower 
strata. It is likely to be otherwise when the valley is over- 
hung with clouds or mists, which greatly diminish radiation. 
Moist winds often supply the needed fluids to the leaves of 
plants. But there is no end to the minor facts of an interest- 
ing character, arising out of climatic relations. 



CHAPTER IX. 

SOILS PROPER TO MAIZE CULTURE. 

A first rate soil for the maize plant will have everything 
to supply or promote its growth, except what it derives from 
the sun, rain, dew, or atmosphere, or from cultivation. 

The analyses in tables v, page 19, vi and vii, on pages 20 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 249 

and 21, XLi, XLii, XLiii, xLiv on pages respectively 166, 1C9, 
and 170, and a few others herein, show the elements of 
maize. Some of the organic elements, the plant forms out 
of the materials presented or absorbed during growth, but 
the inorganic elements the soil must supply, or they must be 
otherwise obtained or added. Other materials the soil needs, 
such as /lufnus to assist it in absorbing and retaining solar heat, 
moisture, and ammonia and other gases from the atmos- 
phere. Some substances, such as lime, are needed as stimu- 
lants or chemical agents, for opening up the heavy parts of 
the soil, or compacting the very loose portions, or decom- 
posing the vegetable waste matters. Other substances such 
as clay, (its base being alumina) mellowed by a suitable pro- 
portion of sand, are needed to give body to the soil, so that 
the plant can, by its roots, firmly establish itself therein. 
Waste animal and vegetable matters of a great many kinds 
may enter into the composition of a good soil for maize. 
Such a soil will be most surely found in river or creek bottoms. 
Water courses of all kinds, from the smallest rill to the 
grandest river, are manufacturers of soil. All bodies of water, 
from the little muck pond to the great ocean, do their part 
towards the building or repairing of soils. So also do the 
storms, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and volcanoes. So 
also the frost, whether stealing over the landscape on still 
clear nights, or leaping down as glaciers, grinding the rocks 
to powder and crushing to atoms, in a moment, what man has 
been building up for centuries. So also the gentlest rays of 
the sun, and the quiet attractions and repulsions of inanimate 
nature, as well as the infinitely varied forms of life, contribute 
their mite toward the formation of soils. The more recent 
contributions of all these workers are most apt to be piled up 
along the banks of streams and around the mouths of great 
rivers. What the old-time workers have been doing in this 
line, if geologists speak true, may be seen in the dried up 



2'0 IXDIAN CORN AXD ITS CULTURE. 

beds of old lakes, as in north-western Ohio, and perhaps 
Indiana and Illinois. What a wealth of matter lies there, 
fitted for maize production, may be judged of from the 
effects of a dried up muck pond transferred to the corn-fields 
of a New Englander. 

Corn on bottoms and fertile plains, however, is sometimes 
made under difficulties. The rains now and then come not 
to slake the natural thirst of the fields, but to drown the crop ; 
and in other cases make their appearance just in time to stop 
the plough before the planting, or the cultivation after the 
corn is up. Even after a good crop is harvested and laid by, 
the results of too much of a good thing are sometimes what 
they were in Ohio in 1857, — It is then that the hillsides and 
rolling uplands come to the front. Here the soil is generally 
thinner, and the average yield smaller, unless high farming 
and gradually deepened plowing have carried the rich mould 
low enough for the best rooting of the plants. In the early 
settlement of the country, as a sage old farmer expressed it, 
it was of no use to say hills to the river bank farmers, even if 
fever and ague thinned out their numbers. But the German 
emigrants came in due time with their side-hill plows, and 
never tiring picks, to make our roughest acres glow with maize 
like the Peruvian mountain sides. And farmers that under- 
stand the use of muck and the art of mixing soils, find means 
to make the uplands hold on to their riches, and gain more. 

From the exposed situation of high points, where plants 
will grow at all, the effects of the winters will be most severe ; 
and consideriog the comparative thinness of the atmosphere, 
the thawing heats of summer will have a great effect in dis- 
integrating rocks. When the elevated spot is comparatively 
level, the rocks will acquire a covering from the sand, clay 
&c., thus disintegrated, and as the nature of all cultivated 
soils, as shown by Prof. Way, and we may suppose, of all 
permeable soils resembling them, is to absorb free acids and 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 261 

alkalies, and separate ammonia, potash and other bases from 
pre-existing compounds ; we may infer that this disintegrated 
substance receives from the atmosphere more or less of those 
floating fertilizers, as well as seeds of grasses and other plants, 
and droppings of birds, and begins with very small growths, 
the refuse of which is left to decompose and produce more 
or less humus, and in the course of ages will accumulate con- 
sideraljle of a soil. Even on bare hill sides, more or less of 
the same process goes on. As the roots projecting from the 
crevices of the rocks, grow large and stout, their stumps ar- 
resting and giving body to the sliding matters from above, and 
these are gradually woven into grass plots or clumps of brush- 
wood, warmed up by the sun, soils of very considerable fer- 
tility are often formed. 

Prof. Newberry, the geologist, in his address before the 
Ohio Agricultural Convention in i860, thus speaks of some 
of the Ohio coal measures, where stiff clay mingles with sand 
and limestone. "As the limestone and clay are impervious, 
in many instances covered with strata, through which the 
water runs down, until it reaches the impervious portions, 
and is distributed over the side of the hill, in never faiHng 
springs, so * * this regular distribution of moisture over the 
hillsides and surface, causes the decomposition of the rocks 
below, that constitute the soil. We get such a variety of 
desirable elements in the soil, among these hills in the coal 
regions, that exhibit unexceptionable fertility, with the best 
of corn growing on the tops of them." 

"The coal measures cover about one-third of the eastern 
and southern borders of the State." The stiff, tenacious, in- 
tractable clays, grown over by the beech and maple, are found 
in "the upper coal measures, where the shale has been ab- 
raded." Shale or slate clay, differs from clay slate in being 
softer, with frequent impressions of fossil vegetables. Going 
northward from the coal measures, we reach the clay left by 



252 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTnRE. 

the drift deposits, once considered intractable, and for a long 
time neglected; but after being subdued "give permanence 
and success to the efforts of the husbandman as much per- 
haps as any other ;" the dairy farms of the Western Reserve 
being largely owned by highly prospered men. 

In the north-western part of the State are the remains of 
the ancient lake beaches; sandy ridges with intervals of de- 
pression, once swamp lands, full of rich deposits, but re- 
quiring drainage. These show traces of ancient lake levels 
25 ) feet higher than the present levels. In the south-west in 
the blue limestone region, is a continuation of the inexhaust- 
able soil of the blue grass tract of Kentucky, underlaid by a 
vast mass of fossils, the disintegration of Avhich has made the 
phosphates very abundant. In the south-west are also long 
tongues or islets, left by erosions, the work of ages. The Ni- 
agara islets, so called, form regular plateaus, generally hold- 
ing the moisture which falls, and becoming in some instances 
intractable swamps, requiring thorough drainage before 
warmth and fertility can be established. The Clinton islets 
are warmer and more workable. — The varieties of soil, as set 
forth by some writers, are very numerous; Thaer and Fel- 
lenburg making So. Judge Buel uses Sinclair's classification, 
including first, the sandy soil, where sand predominates; too 
loose to be retentive of manure and moisture. 

It is the chief soil along the Atlantic from New York to 
Florida, and on the pine lands of the interior. If silex does 
not exceed 60 to 65 per cent, it bears working as well as 
other soils. 

The proportion of seven-eighths sand, according to Sir H. 
Davy, is necesgary to a sandy soil, and sandy or gravelly 
soils effervescing with acids, are called calcareous sands or 
gravels. To clay soils one-sixth, and to loams one-third of 
impalpable matter, not considerably effervescing with acids, is 
necessary. One half vegetable matter is required for peat. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURK. 2o3 

As quartz and mica are in part constituents of granite, tlie 
soil abounding in their fragments, is called granitic. Ac- 
cording to some writers, a proper sandy soil contains only 
lo per cent of pure clay ; a sandy loam, 60 to 90 per cent of 
sand; and from 30 to 60 per cent of sand can be mechanic- 
ally washed out of a loam. From 15 to 30 per cent of fine 
sand, well mixed with clay soil, makes it clay loam, as it be- 
comes more free and friable. From 5 to 15 per cent of si- 
licious sand mixed with pure clay, makes the strongest (tile) 
clay soil. Pure or pipe clay, has 60 parts of silica, 40 of al- 
umina and oxide of iron, in most cases chemically combined. 
Marls are an important element in eastern soils; they are 
differently classed by scientists, but those of the United States 
are divided by a writer in the U. S. P. O. Report, 1868, into 
argillaceous, glauconitic or green sand, and calcareous. Ar- 
gillaceous marls consist of clay and sand with a little lime, 
and in some cases are valuable fertilizers. * 'Glauconitic marls 
include the green sands of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland 
and a few localities further south," permanently beneficial 
for the potash and phosphoric acid they contain. "Calcare- 
ous marls are the debris of countless successive generations 
of life, the remains of which may or may not be recognizable, 
according to the amount of pulverization and attrition they 
have undergone, from the motion of the water in which they 
were deposited, and the subsequent conditions to which they 
have been exposed. These deposits range in time from the 
cretaceous epoch of geologists to the present era, and are 
even now in process of formation both in marine and inland 
waters. They are found in greatest amount in the tertiary 
strata." The limestone is supposed to have originated in the 
same way. Calcareous soils contain more than 20 per cent 
of lime, as classed by some ; marls 5 to 20. Later authorities 
give certain marls from Vermont from 73 to 89 parts in 100 
of carbonate of lime ; and pond marl of New York, from 56^ 



254 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

to 93^ of same, and other pond marls from 12 3/^ to 5o|- parts 
of lime; and shell marl from Maryland and the Carolinas, 
21 1'-^g to 90 parts in 100 of carbonate of lime. (See U. S. P. 
C). Report, 1868.) As distinguished from limestone, marls 
are generally friable. 

Clay soils when thoroughly subdued by admixture of sand, 
barn-yard manure, lime or fertilizers, or by ploughing in green 
crops, or otherwise, produce abundant crops of sound corn. 
They are usually much more difficult to work than sandy 
soils, but are more retentive of moisture and ammonia, and 
probably better absorbents from air and water of fertilizing 
matters. 

Much has been written on the analyses of soils; and there 
is no doubt they are of advantage in ascertaining some of 
the properties of a soil. The report of the chemist in U. S. 
Agricultural Report, 187 1, maintains that it is difficult to 
analyze a soil, so as to give its average component elements. 
The ammonia contained is so volatile as to diminish one half 
or more in passing from spring to summer. The soluble salts 
of potash wash away. Still the farmer may profit by analy- 
sis, as it relates as much to the mechanical as the chemical 
composition. The relation of soil to heat is important. The 
power of the soil to absorb and retain moisture depends on 
the amount of water it can hold below saturation, and both 
of these can be detected by any one who has at command 
an accurate balance. 

These properties, together with facility of percolation and 
the activity of capillary attraction, depend largely on the 
firmness of the particles composing the soil. The propor- 
, tion of clay usually required as a measure of this in re- 
lation to water, is true only when the clay is not saturated 
with water. Sandy soils are very inferior to clay in absorb- 
ing ammonia. If manure added contains any lime, much 
more of it will be removed by a sandy than by a clay soil. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. '255 

Prof. Voelcker showed that if the solution of saline matter 
brought in contact with a soil, be very dilute, there is hardly 
any absorption of ammonia, potash or phosphoric acid. This 
is spoken of as showing that the sewage of towns is of no 
value when very dilute, since the soil, though possessing highly 
absorbent powers, has not the power of overcoming the 
affinity of water for the solution. — One of the uses of cal- 
careous marl is to increase the power of sandy or pure clay 
soils to absorb ammonia and potash. Carbonate of lime ab- 
sorbs six times as much ammoniacal salt, as stiff clay. Gyp- 
sum in the soil helps to prevent the dispersion of ammonia. 

These matters are said to descend during rain, or in win- 
ter, and rise during summer "when evaporation is greatest, 
and when the plant needs more food and moisture." (See 
U. S. Agricultural Report, 1870.) 

Humus retains the moisture in the soil, and evolves heat 
by its slow decomposition. Its darker color makes it a re- 
markable absorbent of solar heat. Some extracts from Thaer's 
Principles of Agriculture in U. S. P. O. Report, 1844, as to 
the relations of humus, and sand and clay to the soil, are 
very much to the point. Abundance of humus gives a black- 
ish hue to the soil. If a ball of earth is submitted to incan- 
descence in an open crucible, which allows atmospheric air 
to come in contact with it, and its dark color is due to humus, 
it will soon disappear, and the earth become white. To 
find the quantity of humus in the soil, take a portion not too 
near the surface, and dry it in the sun till it pulverizes in the 
hand and feels quite dry ; pick out the small stones, weigh 
the remainder accurately, place in a crucible heated to per- 
fect incandescence, and keep it in that state for about ten 
minutes, and stir it with a glass tube all the time. To hasten 
tlic burning of the humus, a little nitrate of ammonia may be 
united with the earth, which completely volatilizes that sub- 
stance. The diminished weight shows the quantity of humus. 



266 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

The earth, especially if argillaceous, loses some of that 
water which was too closely united with it, to be evaporated 
only by the process of incandescence. Where the soil con- 
tains much lime, the volatilization of its carbonic acid and 
water of crystallization, will sensibly affect the result, and it 
is necessary to begin by getting rid of the lime. If a liquid 
paste is made of the earth to be analyzed, and water, and a 
strip of blue turnsole paper is dipped in it and turns red, it 
shows acidity in the humus. If the humus, when burning, 
smells like burnt feathers, it has come from animal matter, is 
richer, and more easily decomposed. 

Clay makes land richer by the adhesion which it contracts 
with water. During a long drought, clay holds on to the 
humidity indispensable to the nourishment of plants, and 
yields it to them. It gives a solid support to the roots of 
plants, and by resisting their too great extension, obliges them 
to put forth "several tufts of short fibrous roots, by means of 
which each plant seeks its nourishment in a circumscribed 
spot," and does not rob its neighbors. Clay prevents the at- 
mospheric air from coming in contact with the roots of those 
plants which it injures, and yields them a moderate and equa- 
ble warmth during the constant changes of the atmosphere. 
If not too damp, growing crops on it suffer much less than 
those on sandy land, from sudden changes from hot to cold, 
and vice versa. Clay attracts oxygen, and probably nitrogen, 
and thus favors their reciprocal action. But excess of clay is 
injurious; in damp weather retaining its water too long and 
forming with it a tenacious paste. In dry weather it hardens, 
and often rubs against the plants like a mass of brick. Dur- 
ing summer heat and winter frosts, it cracks into gaps or 
clefts, and tears the roots, or lays them bare to the atmos- 
pheric air. It forcibly takes up all the nutritive juices con- 
tained in the manure applied to it, and will not part with it 
as easily as lighter soils. Clay, thoroughly manured and in 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 257 

good condition, retains its fertility a considerable time, but 
once exhausted, requires very heavy manuring to bring it up. 
A soil with too much clay is hard to cultivate; in damp wea- 
ther clogging the plow and harrow, and in dry weather is 
hardly divisible into large clods, which refuse to crumble 
under the harrow or roller, until moistened by rain. A mix- 
ture of humus or. lime ameliorates such soils more or less, 
but the application of sand is better. The upper layer always 
contains some sand, which makes it available for the plow. 

Mr. Thaer makes the value of most lands depend prin- 
cipally on the proportions of clay and sand united in them. 
He means by sand, that coarse ground silica, which, when 
any portion of earth is carefully washed, is precipitated to the 
bottom of the vessel, and can be collected. Experiments 
had shown that when clay was boiled with water, a consider- 
able quantity of fine ground silica was separated from it, and 
if this operation was prolonged and carefully perfected, the 
alumina was deprived of nearly the whole of its silica ; the 
quantity of this fine silica being considered the difference be- 
tween rich and poor clay. 

Sand injures, when too large a component of the soil, be- 
cause not sufficiently retentive of moisture, allowing the water 
to evaporate or drain away, and carry with it fertilizing par- 
ticles and juices ; and because it does not combine with hu- 
mus, and hardly enters into a physical union with it, strong 
enough to absorb fertilizing particles from the atmosphere. 
Sandy soils will not bear frequent cultivation, though much 
is needed to destroy the weeds which infest them, especially 
where humus abounds; very frequent workings depriving it 
of that cohesion which prevents the wind from decomposing 
and carrying away its richer particles. Sandy soils, being 
good conductors of caloric, transmit the influences of severe 
cold or intense heat immediately to the plants, and at each 
sudden change which the temperature of the atmosphere un- 



258 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 

dergoes. A soil containing more than 60 to 80 parts in 100 
of sand, is termed sandy clay. The value of this land di. 
minishes in proportion as the sand increases. Mr. Thaer's 
classification of soils is very extensive and minute. Only a 
few of his distinctions have been here presented in a some- 
what abbreviated form. 

"Gravelly soils are sometimes composed of small soft stones, 
and sometimes flinty ones." "They often contain granite, 
limestone and other rocky substances, partially, but not very 
minutely decomposed. Gravel is more porous than even 
sand, and is /iuf!^ry," especially when composed of hard and 
rounded substances ; these do not attract the animal and vege- 
table matters they receive, and so easily lose them. When 
dry, these soils are soon heated by the sun, and cool more 
slowly than sand. Their crops are the earliest and most sul)- 
ject to drought. Indian corn suits them, especially on a 
sod of clover or grass ley. Gravelly loams, warm and dry, 
are especially advantageous in wet seasons and climates. 
Chalk soils have an excess of calcareous matter, which may 
be remedied by the addition of pure clay, and vegetable or 
animal matters, where these are deficient. Combined with 
sand or gravel, they are light and often unproductive. 

The nature of the subsoil must also be considered. If the 
surface soil is easily penetrable, and the subsoil impervious 
and the land level, there is apt to be an excess of water about 
the roots of the plants, in moist weather. If both soil and 
subsoil are very penetrable, the water is apt to drain away 
too rapidly, unless there is an abundant supply of humus or 
a sufficient admixture of clay to hold a fair supply. When 
either the surface or subsoil is swampy, the excess of water 
loads to the formation of certain vegetable acids, which in 
excess render the soil cold and sour. Draining and subsoil 
])loughing do much towards remedying this. 

The geological features of the United States show that lime 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 259 

is the base of all the important fertilizers (except the green- 
sand marls,) which yield the most important inorganic ele- 
ments to the growing maize plant. Limestone, or the natural 
stratified carbonate, magnesian limestone or dolomite, sulph- 
ate of lime or plaster, phosphate of lime, pond marl and 
other marls, are among the chief sources of these fertilizers. 
The older calcareous limestones of the Atlantic States form 
a wide belt nearly coinciding with the great eastern mountain 
range ; beginning with the upper silurian limestone in New 
Brunswick, which appears in the Green mountains in con- 
nection with the lower silurian, it passes along the east line 
of New York, near the coast in northern New Jersey, through 
West Virginia, North Carolina and north Georgia, and ends 
in north Alabama. The newer calcareous deposits are di- 
vided among the more recent geological formations, the car- 
boniferous, cretaceous and tertiary. The carboniferous lime- 
stone appears in Pennsylvania, west of the silurian and par- 
allel to it, and shows traces along to the south-western limit 
of the silurian. The cretaceous appears in Georgia. The 
tertiary belt gradually widens from southern New Jersey to 
Florida, and is separated from the limestone range by gneiss, 
slates and sandstones. Large beds of shell marl and lime- 
stone formed from its consolidation are found in the tertiary. 
(See U. S. Agricultural Report, 1868.) 

Great quantities of the phosphates are found in the Caro- 
linas, and the green sands of New Jersey are celebrated as 
fertilizers. The Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, and similar 
ones but smaller, in north Alabama, middle and east Ten- 
nessee and Virginia, abound in nitrate of lime, from which 
saltpetre was made for gunpowder during recent war times. 

Eminent writers have frequently characterized the great 
body of the far western formations as hopeless for extended 
systems of agriculture. There is considerable testimony on 
the other side of the question. The Reports of the Commis- 



2 ;0 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CDLTUHE. 

sioner of the General Land Office, (see the last named vol- 
ume,) show not only in Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas and Ne- 
braska, large tracts of river bottom, and rich upland suitable 
for maize culture, but also in Colorado, Dakota, Montana, 
Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, California and Oregon, with 
irrigation, and in many districts without. Evidently the 
eastern system of agriculture must be more or less modified 
to meet the conditions found here. And when the success- 
ful methods have been found and reduced to practice, it does 
not follow that the extraordinary crops at first obtained in 
some cases, will be permanent. It would seem reasonable to 
suppose that in large rainless districts, uncultivated in the 
main for ages, there would be accumulations of fertilizing 
matters on the surface, the disintegrations of the rocks and 
the wastes of slender vegetations, and deposits from the atmos- 
phere, comparatively unleached, and held together by a net- 
work of coarse grass, which when first made agriculturally 
productive, would bring forth for a time, wonderful crops. 
The first wheat crops in California were extraordinary, but 
the yield per acre is said to have fallen off greatly in recent 
years. Similar facts, though less remarkable, were true of 
much of the pioneer agriculture of the Ohio and Mississippi 
valleys. But, as the overflowings of the Nile were used by 
human skill and industry to make a magnificent garden out 
of a sandy desert, we may hope that science and skill will 
open new paths to high attainment in the arts of culture 
through this vast field for effort and enterprise. 

What nature herself, without any aid from man, will some- 
times temporarily accomplish for the renovation of land, is 
shown in the description given by the missionary Moffatt, of 
the great Karroo plain, in South Africa. During the dry sea- 
son, it was perfectly devoid of vegetation, a solitary waste 
of indurated surface; but after the rainy season set in. it 
quickly revived, and in due time became an immense pano- 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 261 

rama of wild flowers, a wilderness of beauty. When the dry- 
season returned, the old desolation returned with it, to be 
again exchanged for the grandeur of loveliness, on the return 
of the clouds. 

Some testimonies from the U. S. P. O. Reports, as to the 
adaptation of Soil in the older States to maize culture, will 
now be given. In 1850, it was reported from Springfield, 
Vermont, that Indian corn on soil highly manured and well 
tilled, was the most profitable of all grain crops. In west- 
ern Massachusetts, clay loam on a clay subsoil was said to pre- 
dominate ; there were also sand and gravel loams, and pure 
gravel and pure sand plains; and in Bristol County, (South- 
east,) fifty to seventy five bushels to the acre of maize, were 
not uncommon. This crop, on the gravel and clay soils of 
Rhode Island, was made by the drought of 1849 a total fail- 
ure. In average years it was good. Jefferson Co., N. Y., 
has well watered land; of a loose, gravelly or loamy texture, 
producing twenty-five to forty bushels to the acre, as a com- 
mon yield. In Newcastle Co., Delaware, a heavy soil pro- 
duces flint corn, and a light soil gourd seed. Cumberland 
Co., Virginia, in the old tobacco region, had been very much 
worn. In Buckingham Co., Va., the yield on uplands was 
about half that of bottoms. From Baldwin Co., Georgia, it 
was reported, (1849,) that the land would never be improved 
to much extent so long as cotton raising was continued. 
From Washington Co., Mississippi, that the pine woods farm- 
ers spoke of their sandy lands, little valued, as producing 
three fair crops of corn, and four or five of rice, with an oc- 
casional crop of sweet potatoes, before they were completely 
worn out. Manuring, except by cow-penning, was never 
practiced. Mississippi was said to have vast beds of rich 
marl. In Clark County, Ohio, (1S49,) the uplands were said 
to produce the heaviest grain, and the bottoms the largest 
stalks and ears; average yield forty bushels to the acre. 



262 INDIAN COBN AND IT3 CUITFRE. 

Michigan soils required little draining, the surface being un- 
dulating ; average of corn the same. Drains were being con- 
structed in Indiana for reclaiming wet lands. In 1853, Berk- 
shire Co., Mass., reported corn, with proper management, 
as fattening to the soil; the very process of raising a good 
crop was just what the land required at frequent intervals. 
The Shakers in Worcester Co., Mass., obtained from land 
naturally stiff and clayey, rather moist, suffering severely from 
drought, and somewhat rocky and unfeasible, maize crops 
of thirty-five to fifty bushels to the acre. The soil of Mis- 
souri was more favorable to this than to any other crop. 
Corn land in western New York was said to require more of 
the phosphates and vegetable mould than wheat, and was 
found in considerable quantities in the basin of Lake On- 
tario. From Ontario Co., it was reported that Indian corn 
was grown to advantage on a good, rich, gravelly or sandy 
soil. To raise it on a clayey soil was an up-hill business. 
The greatest difficulty was with the drought of July and Au- 
gust From Metagorda Co , Texas, corn was reported as 
growing indiscriminately, and in the greatest abundance, in 
every portion of the State, with less labor, and perhaps a 
more bountiful return than in any other part of the world. 
As to the condition of the soil proper for maize culture, 
there seems to be no point on which the witnesses so gen- 
erally agree, as that sod land, old pasture or meadow, of three 
or more years standing, other things being equal, is the very 
best. One of the largest recorded crops, made in the in- 
terior of Kentucky, some thirty-five years ago, of 196 bushels 
to the acre, was a result of a system of plowing in the fall 
before planting, a grass sod of eight years standing. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 263 

CHAPTER X. 

IMPROVEMENT OF LAND FOR MAIZE CULTURE. 

(a.) — Maize cannot thrive on land that has not in it the 
elements which the soil is expected to furnish. What these 
are, the analyses of the plant already given will approximate- 
ly determine, if taken in connection with sufficient experience 
in culture. The enquiry will be more suitable under the name 
of fertilizers, reserved tor the next chapter. 

{p.) — But these elements may be present without materially 
benefiting the plant. If this is due to the climate, and the 
temperature is at fault, the remedy if it is attainable, must be 
looked for in the choice of varieties, or special modes of cul- 
ture. If due to deficiency or excess of moisture, as the pre- 
vailing character of a district, irrigation or drainage may make 
the crop feasible. In such cases these operations are apt to 
be made most beneficial, conducted on a large scale. But 
there are many cases, where the general climate is suited to 
maize culture, in which the season is sometimes unfavorable, 
and the location is so, as a rule. Certain spots are subject to 
early or late frosts, or to droughts or floods. They may wash 
badly, they may be covered with bogs or swamps, or they 
may be simply worn-out land. Land injured in any way by 
excess of water, requires a thorough drainage. If the soil is 
saturated with water, the sun in spring is too slow in warm- 
ing it for timely plowing. 

The result of Count Rumford's experiments as to tlie 
mode in which heat is propagated in fluids was, that heat 
is transmitted in water only by the motion of the particles in 
the water, and if the heated particles are prevented from rising, 
water cannot be warmed except where it touches the vessel 
containing it. To warm the water, heat applied to the sur- 



264 INDIAN CORN anh its culture. 

face must be conducted downward by some other medlnm. 
Pleat the bottom of a vessel, and the colder particles descend 
till the whole is warmed. Stagnant water will keep the soil 
cold from its want of circulation, and its removal is the first 
step towards giving the soil the benefit of the sun's heat. 
Where water only escapes from the surface by evaporation, 
it produces cold. Every gallon evaporated is said to carry 
off heat enough to raise five and a half gallons of water from 
the freezing to the boiling point. (See U.'S. P. O. Report, 
1856.) _ 

Draining is said to raise the temperature of the soil often 
15° Fahrenheit. Indian corn vegetates at about 55°, and at 
45° the seed would rot in the ground without vegetating. 
The sun will often bring the temperature of dry soils up to 
90° or 100°, when the air in the shade is only 60° or 70°. 

There are different methods of reclaiming swamps and 
bogs after the surface water is drained. The eastern farmers 
make great use of the muck taken from them to aid in com- 
posting manure. The Shakers in Worcester Co., Mass., had 
some meadows which had been cropped of their natural 
grasses for fifty years, till no longer worth cutting, and then 
left to grow up to bushes three feet high, with moss and bogs. 
They were first ditched six feet to the bottom of the peat, 
the ditches near enough to each other for perfect draining. 
The bushes were then mowed, the bogs cut up and burnt, 
and the ground fall plowed, and planted according to their 
usual rotation. In 1853 they gathered eight hundred bushels 
of potatoes, "as fine as any one could wish" from four acres 
of such meadow, first plowed the fall previous, and each acre 
in the following June, after re-plowing, manured with ten 
loads of muck and planted, and then left to its fate till har- 
vesting. They afterwards took a new plan to reclaim their 
meadows ; first mowing the bushes close to the ground, bogs 
and all; leaving the surface clean and smooth, which was 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURK. 265 

burnt over and made an excellent manure. They next carted 
on fifty loads of clay loam and mixed the soils with a light 
harrow and sowed timothy and red top, which on the third 
year brought two and a half tons of hay per acre. Clay 
proved the best application on their meadows. 

{c.) — Where the swampy districts are of large extent, the 
Government has sometimes taken their improvement in hand, 
and, as in Ohio nearly twenty years ago, devised a system of 
taxation for the purpose. North-western Ohio has had much 
of this character of soil. Eight hundred miles of drains of 
a more simple kind were reported to the Convention of Presi- 
dents of County Boards of Agriculture as having been laid 
in Wood County in 1857. They were ditches, into which 
were thrown long poles on which a light covering was cast. 
The work was greatly facilitated by opening the streams. The 
Convention however recommended tile draining as the best 
and cheapest mode. Of late years manufactories of drain 
tiles have been established in south-western Ohio, and much 
progress has been made in their use for underdraining. These 
tiles are "made of clay similar to brick clay, moulded by a 
machine into tubes, usually thirteen inches long, and burnt 
in a kiln or furnace to be about as hard as what are called 
hard-burnt bricks. They are of various forms and sizes. 
Some are round, with a sole or flat bottom moulded with the 
tile, and are called **sole tiles." * * Others are of a horse- 
shoe form, open at the bottom, to be laid on the hard bottom 
of the ditch without a sole, or in soft places with a sole or 
flat bottom of the same material, with the tile, made sepa- 
rate from it. For some localities, pipe tiles, merely round 
tubes, are preferred. When there is danger of displacement 
by reason of the soft condition of the ground at the bottom 
of the trenches, pipe tiles are often kept in position by means 
of collars of the same material as the tiles themselves, made 
loosely to fit over the joint. * * The size of the tiles to be 
23 



266 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTUUK, 

used varies from two to six inches calibre, according to the 
quantity of water to be conveyed. It is a question of ex- 
pediency whether to use very large tiles, or to lay two or more 
courses of smaller size, side by side, when the flow of water 
is very great." (See U. S. P. O. Report, 1856.) 

As for the depth and distance of the drains apart, there 
has been much controversy in England. Elkington intro- 
duced the deep draining system in 1 7 64. His theory was that 
water from springs caused wetness in land. Mr. French of 
Exeter, New Hampshire, refers to the thorough drainage sys- 
tem of Mr. Smith (1832) of Scotland, as the one now gen- 
erally adopted in Great Britain ; its leading idea being that 
land is injured as often by water from rain which falls upon 
it, as from springs; and that all land may be drained by pipes 
laid at moderate depth, as three or four feet, at distances 
apart say from fifteen to sixty feet. In reference to this sys- 
tem Mr. French assumes that tiles must be laid below the 
reach of the subsoil plow, subsoiling to follow the work ; 
they must be laid below frost and the roots of the crops; must 
have reference to the fall and outlet, and should be adjusted 
with reference to the cost ; it being supposed to cost as much 
to dig the last foot of a four foot ditch, as the first three. 
Four feet depth in nine cases in ten, is best. The distance 
apart of the drains depends "on a careful study of the de- 
tails of the subject," such as the nature of the soil, the dis- 
position of the different strata of the subsoil, and the depth 
to which the drains are cut. Some stiff clays require three 
foot drains, fifteen feet apart ; porous gravelly soils may admit 
drains of the same depth, sixty feet apart. As to the direc- 
tion of drains over slopes, it is thought best, when running 
up and down the declivity. 

The water enters the tiles both at the joints and through 
the pores of the burnt clay. It should enter at the bottom 
of the tiles. How it is that stiff, clayey soils, nearly imper- 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 267 

vious to water in their natural state, can be under-drained is 
shown as follows : *'A11 soils, and clay in particular, expand 
when wet, and contract when dry. When drains are laid in 
clay, the soil next the tiles is deprived of its water, and of 
course, rendered dryer than the rest. This causes it to crack, 
the cracks commencing at the drains, and extending in almost 
straight lines into the subsoil, making feeders leading to the 
tiles. The main fissures have numerous smaller ones diver- 
ging from them, so that the whole mass is divided up into 
the smallest portions. The dryer the soil, the larger and 
longer the main fissures. When wet comes, the cracks close 
up, leaving room for the water to pass through them. Clay, 
saturated with water, loses one-fifth in bulk on being per- 
fectly dried." 

The advantages of under-draining are both mechanical 
and chemical. Some of them have b^«n already stated, and 
further, as applicable to uplands, as veil as lowlands, it pre- 
vents drought, supplies oxygen to the roots, promotes ab- 
sorption of fertilizing substances from the air, and improves 
the quality of the crops. The necessity for drainage depends 
mainly on the character of the subsoil. If this is of sand, ' 
gravel, or other porous earth, natural drainage carries off 
water not evaporated. Asubsoil of suchimpervioussubstances 
as clay, or rock, chokes the passage of the water downward, 
and it becomes stagnant, or bursts out in springs. Land too 
wet in early spring, is often very hard in summer, so that 
cultivation is very difficult. It is often cold and sour ; in- . 
jurious quantities of vegetable acids are formed, and it suf- 
fers from early frosts in autumn. In a wet subsoil, the roots 
of the plants find unhealthy food in such acids formed in ex- 
cess, and also in such inorganic substances as protoxide of 
iron. The advantage of under-draining in such cases is very 
clear. The Committee on draining, in their Report to the 
State Agricultural Society of New York, in 1848, asserted 



268 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

that there was not one farmer out of seventy-five but needed 
draining to bring the soil into high cultivation. The Secretary 
of that Society, in his Report for 1855, said "the testimony 
of farmers in different sections of theState. is almost unani- 
mous, that drained lands have suffered far less from drought 
than undrained." The general testimony shows that under- 
draining equalizes both temperature and moisture, for the 
benefit of growing plants. There is great gain also in the sea- 
son for working the land being lengthened. 

At a discussion on drainage referred to in the U. S. P. O. 
Report, 1868, a Mr. Brown remarked that drainage makes 
cold land warmer, wet land dryer, dry land wetter, heavy 
land lighter, and in some cases light land more compact; and 
that land thoroughly drained, if anything like hard land, 
could be cultivated at about half the cost of wet land. 

Special directions for under-draining will be found in Prof. 
Norton's work on Agriculture. Mattice & Penfield's drain 
tile machine is described in the Ohio Agricultural Report for 
1858. See also U. S. Agricultural Report, 1870, for exhaus- 
tive articles on draining. 

(d.) — For dry climates and soils, irrigation has been prac- 
ticed for thousands of years in some parts of the old world. 
Herodotus mentions a mode of raising water for irrigation, 
very much like the well-sweep and bucket formerly used in 
this country for raising water from wells. The Assyrians 
made canals for irrigation; the overflowings of their rivers 
not being rich enough, China and India, as well as Egypt, 
in very early times, made use of irrigation ; so did the ancient 
Peruvians, and the Aztecs of Mexico. In Persia and Syria, 
and all the more Eastern Countries, it is still practiced ; and 
it is an important feature in the agriculture of Belgium, 
France and Italy. A very learned treatise will be found on 
the subject in the U. S. P. O. Report for i860, and others in 
the Reports for 1849, 1868, 1870 and 1871. Irrigation on 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 260 

an extensive scale is comparatively a new thing in the United 
States. The necessities of the far west have called attention 
to the subject. Some account of what may be done in this 
way in the eastern States was given by Prof. Coleman some 
nine years ago in reference to a farm at Brattleboro, Ver- 
mont. The farm was on a high hill, near the summit of 
which a basin covers several acres, formerly a boggy swamp, 
and the source of a small stream watering the fields below. 
By damming up the lower edge of the swamp, a reservoir 
was made, holding a large quantity of water. From this, 
water could be taken over most of the farm, and carried to 
parts of adjoining farms. Irrigation was only practiced on 
the grass crop. The water, soon after leaving the reservoir 
was divided into several main channels by which it was car- 
ried to different fields, where it was made to flow in thin 
sheets over the grass. The water was let on in the spring 
before the snow was gone, the effect being the melting of 
the snow next the ground, a space being made between the 
snow and the grass. The water thawed the ground, and the 
heat thus given started the grass, so that by the time the fields 
were bare they became beautifully green. The water was 
kept running on the grass, not constantly on the same ground, 
but as required, until about two weeks before haying. Most 
of the irrigated land produced one and a half to two tons of 
hay the first cutting, with an after-growth of one-half to 
three-quarters of a ton. 

In Colorado, (187 1,) it was found that the co-operation of 
whole townships was wanted for success. In California the 
Pacific slope ditches were sometmies fifty miles long, 'ii.e 
only water supplied to Denver for irrigation during eleven 
years, was by a ditch twenty-four miles long, and for build- 
ing such a ditch by the combined work of farmers, very little 
cash was needed. Wells may be sunk on points too high to 
benefit by open ditches from a distance; the water being 



270 INDIAN CORN ANB TTS CULTURE. 

raised by an ordinary suction pump put in and operated by a 
small windmill one can make himself. If the water is too 
low for a suction pump, a belt of cups may be used. But 
our space is too limited for even an outline of the practical 
methods, and other details of irrigation described in the vol- 
umes referred to. The time has not come in this country for 
its connection with the maize crop to be fully investigated. 

(<?.) — There are many other methods of improving land, 
some of which have been already referred to, such as plow- 
ing in green crops, clovering, liming, deep plowing, subsoil- 
ing &c., but most of them are intimately connected with the 
subjects of fertilization and plowing. In making new farms 
however, out of forest land, clearing the land for pasture is 
one of the methods of improving it, and when done well, is 
one of the best preparations for the maize crop. It is too 
common to be wasteful in disposing of the timber. Now 
that railroads are providing markets for lumber, and material 
used in laying tracks or making trestles, or manufacturing 
barrels, buckets and furniture, to say nothing about fire-wood, 
the young farmer on his eighty acres of new wood-land would 
do well to realize as much as possible from this source, before 
his acres come up to his requirements for general culture. 
Good fences are one of the great points in corn culture, and 
if he prefers board fences at the start, especially against high- 
roads, and his timber will admit of being worked up into lum- 
ber for these as well as for the out-buildings of the farm he is 
making, he may come sooner into permanent and substantial 
improvements. 

Oak boards sixteen feet long, and eight to ten inches 
wide, when newly sawed and nailed with strong fence nails, 
so called, on nicely hewed or sawed locust or cedar posts, cut 
in July or August, and set top downwards, make a strong 
fence. A worm fence, for dividing the farm into separate 
fields, is very convenient and desirable, if made of rails ten 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE,' 271 

or eleven feet in uniform length, and of medium thickness, 
when the timber splits evenly and straight, and is fallen late 
in summer. It is usual to lay the corners of the worm on 
blocks or stones, to save the lowest rails from rotting next the 
ground. Very much of the strength of this fence depends 
on this blocking being of ample size, and evenly and firmly 
set. This fence is very commonly made eight rails high, and 
secured at the top either by locking or staking and ridering. 
Sometimes the riders are long poles. These methods are too 
commonly understood to need explanation here. For an out- 
side fence of a maize field against a road much traveled, a 
well made post and rail fence, is probably the most secure. 
Locust is one of the best materials for posts, hewn straight 
and even, to about five inches thickness, except the lower- 
most two and a half feet, which enters the ground, and of 
sufficient width to make five or six mortises in a central line ; 
in which the rails, usually split rather thin out of white oak, 
from six to eight inches wide, can be inserted. The ends of 
the rails are so trimmed, that when they are in position, with 
the bark side down, the lowermost rail of pannel No. i will 
have its end resting in the lower mortise fitted tighdy with 
the end of the lowermost rail of pannel No. 2, and so to the 
topmost rails fitting in the upper mortise. The lower mortises 
are somewhat closer together than the upper ones, that the 
fence may keep out smaller animals. White oak posts are 
very common, but they are not so durable; and other evenly 
splitting timber may be used for rails, or narrow two inch 
plank. A great deal of such fence may be seen along the 
turnpike roads though the heavy maize growing districts of 
central Ohio, where the fields are of great extent. 

It is usual to burn off the cleared fields before breaking up 
or turning into pasture. But if one can spare the capital to 
buy suitable stock for feeding, the leaves and decayed brush 
may help out his stores of manure. Forest leaves make ex- 



272 inMan cokn and its citltube. 

cellent bedding for cattle, especially in winter. Cattle are 
great aids in subduing the young growths which spring up in 
a cleared field. For getting rid of stumps, very effective im- 
plements can now be obtained. If one makes a corn-field 
while the'^round is full of roots, he will have hard plowing; 
but there are plows made expressly for the purpose, which 
are very nimble in jumping a root. 

If one's eighty acres of new land be wet and level, it would 
doubtless be most conducive to health, as well as profit, to 
drain as fast as he clears. Under-draining may be more 
difficult when the ground is full of stumps and deep roots, 
but sufficient ditching to carry off the surface water is very 
important. In many level districts, the plow throws the field 
into ridges fifteen feet or less in width ; with surface drains 
between. This was a common method in southern Michigan 
twenty-five years ago. If the eighty acres were on an ex- 
tensive prairie, it would seem likely that there would be less 
danger of malaria from excessive decomposition, if only one- 
fourth were thoroughly broken up at first, and then highly 
cultivated. It might not be enough however, unless the 
limited breaking up were a general practice throughout a 
newly settled district. 

(/.) — Rotation of crops, on judicious principles consistently 
followed up, is one of the chief helps to the improvement 
of land. Different crops remove different proportions of the 
elements of the maize plant, and it is apparent that for a series 
of years, other things being equal, the balance between these 
elements in the soil will be better preserved by a succession 
of different crops, than by a succession of maize crops alone. 
Rotation is of less importance in the case of river bottoms, 
where the occasional inundations bring on new supplies, or 
that of the hogging down system, which returns to the soil a 
large part of the elements taken from it during growth. One 
of the advantages of rotation is that it changes somewhat the 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 273 

mode of culture, as well as the drafts on the elements. Fall 
sown wheat and grass help to preserve the soil from washing, 
and otherwise aid its mechanical condition. The potato root 
in decaying, lightens up the surface soil, clover roots, the 
deeper strata. Perpendicular rooted plants throw out few 
side roots, and derive most of their nourishment from a con- 
siderable depth, while fibrous rooted plants seek their food 
near the surface. 

"The special insect enemies of the maize plant often lay 
their eggs in the soil, which has grown the crop they have 
been robbing, and a change of crop may leave them to starve. 
Maize being exhausting in the process of ripening the seed, 
and root crops removing less of the seed forming elements, 
a crop of roots intervening in the succession, will necessarily 
leave the soil supplied with these elements." 

Maize is in some respects considered an ameliorating crop, 
though belonging to the culmiferous or robber class. The 
Scotch Rural Cyclopedia says of its culture, that when the 
manure adds as much fertility as the crop withdraws in the 
form of nitrogenous saline constituents of the grain and straw, 
it is powerfully ameliorating j its after culture working out the 
same results: it being an excellent correcting crop after 
turnips and potatoes, just in the degree that they are deeper 
and sharper and of more frequent action. In Italy it is 
known as a preparation crop for wheat, and can be so used in 
England. — Other works reckon the leguminous crops, as peas, 
beans, and other pulse, and also potatoes, turnips, carrots, 
beets, cabbages and clover, as ameliorating crops; because 
some of them are much less exhausting, from not generally 
maturing their seeds, and all of them less exhausting on 
account of their broad leaves, fitting them to receive nu- 
triment from the atmosphere ; and they divide up or loosen 
the soil by their tap or bulbous roots. They are now gen- 
erally manured and cultivated during growth with hand hoes 



274 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CUtTURE. 

or labor saving machines, and are well calculated to prepare 
ground for the small-grained and narrow-leafed culmiferous 
crops. One of the specialties of maize is that it is broad 
leaved as well as culmiferous, and can stand successive crop- 
pings better than wheat. But except where it is planted for 
the fodder, it is more exhausting than crops grown mainly for 
the roots, bulbs or leaves, as the potato, turnip, beet, clover, or 
hay crops ; and of course becomes less so by alternating with 
them. 

Clover, useful as it is for feeding cattle, is of more value 
for feeding other crops, and putting the soil in right condition 
for their growth. To a certain extent it is also valuable as a 
seed crop. The fodder plants, including the hay crops, sup- 
port the cattle that furnish manure and muscular labor for 
the crops generally, as well as food for man. 

The following principles, suggested by Chaptal are true in 
theory, but are subject to modifications in practice from varie- 
ties of climate and soil, and the special wants of localities. 

A long series of crops will exhaust a soil, however well pre- 
pared. The extent to which every harvest impoverishes the 
soil is inversely as the nourishment it restores to it. Spindle 
roots ought to succeed superficial ones. We should avoid 
returning too soon to the cultivation of the same or similar 
growths in the same soil. Allowing two kinds of plants 
which admit of the heavy growth of weeds among them, to 
be raised in succession, is very unwise. 

Those plants should be cultivated which restore most to 
the soil, where it shows symptoms of exhaustion from suc- 
cessive harvests. Clover is a very good substitute in a ro- 
tation for potatoes, carrots, and peas cut for fodder. 

The following rotation is a choice one ; corn, barley and 
clover, clover, clover, and wheat and one plowing. The in- 
creasing precariousness of winter wheat suggested tlie follow- 
ing : First, corn or potatoes widi long or unfermented ma- 



INDIAN COBN AND ITS CULTURE. 275 

nure. Second, spring wheat with clover seed. Third, clover 
cut in June, and fallowed with turnips. Fourth, barley or 
oats, with grass seeds. Fifth, meadow. Sixth, pasture. 
Here are seven crops in six years, only two very exhausting, 
and three very ameliorating. Best where manure is scarce. 
The killing of weeds — the only good reason for a fallow — is 
done just as well by such fallow crops as require frequent 
weeding during growth. 

But even a good rotation will wear out in time and need 
change. We can see in the forests and fields of nature's ex- 
clusive planting, how they tire of a long succession of the 
same growths, and have rotations of their own. Man has 
learned his from hers, and they underlie his best systems of 
culture. 

The farm is supposed to be divided into three, four, five, 
six or more fields, the number of these divisions giving name 
to the course of crops assigned to it, as the three field sys- 
tem &c., or suggesting the three general ones of short, me- 
dium and long courses. But markets have much to do with 
rotations as well as climate and soil, and in view of North 
American peculiarities in these respects. New York was many 
years ago represented to the British agriculturists as usually 
following this course, first, maize ; second, wheat or rye ; third, 
flax or oats ; which was repeated as long as the land would 
bear anything ; it was then given a rest. The Dutchman's 
course on the Mohawk was successively wheat, peas, wheat, 
oats or flax, and Indian corn. In New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
and Delaware, maize, wheat and rubbish pasture, or more 
lately, wheat, maize, wheat, clover and clover. On Vir- 
ginia's best lands, maize and wheat alternately, till worn out ; 
but tobacco first, where that was cultivated ; and in east Vir- 
ginia the worst results followed in impoverishment of the soil. 

It is evident that the farmer should make his rotation as 
comprehensive as circumstances will admit. In the settle- 



276 IXDIAN CORN ANP ITS CULTURE. 

ment of new and fertile lands, especially if bought on credit, 
and the best market looks to some special product, he may 
be excused from practicing any settled course for a while. 
On thinner lands, an earlier attention to this is quite impor- 
tant, as it will take time to develope his best rotation. 

Owners of hill-side or sloping farms, in these arrangements 
should have an eye to the best means to prevent their soils 
from washing Maize culture, here requires very careful 
management to be free from objection. 

Among the more recent rotations in the United States, 
described in the U. S. P. O. Reports, as prevailing many 
years ago in Indiana, say in Wayne County, is successively 
clover, corn, oats, wheat and grass ; Wabash Co., corn, wheat, 
clover, wheat, corn. Orange Co., corn, oats, wheat. Mar- 
ion, same, ending with clover or grass to suit the soil. Bar- 
tholomew, corn, oats, wheat, clover. Greene, clover, wheat. 
corn, oats. Noble, wheat, corn, rye &c. Laporte, wheat, 
corn, oats, clover, rest two or three years, then wheat with 
clover, turn over sod and sow with wheat. 

In Illinois, Putnam Co., two crops of corn, one wheat, 
one oats, one grass. Jackson Co., corn, oats, wheat, clover. 
Randolph Co., oats, wheat. In Michigan, Wayne Co., green- 
sward, corn, wheat. Oakland, clover, corn, wheat, clover, 
wheat, corn. Hillsdale, wheat, corn, wheat. Monroe, wheat 
after barley. Wnshtenaw, wheat, summer fallow, wheat, oats, 
corn, clover with pasture. In Delaware the five field rc^ 
tation prevailed, corn, oats, wheat, clover, pasture ; varied 
more or less with the i^rice of grain in the market. In Will 
Co., Illinois, wheat was grown among corn. 

A Kentucky farmer bought a plantation which had been 
continued in corn twenty to twenty-five years, put it in timo- 
thy meadow adjoining a sheep pasture, and let a small flock 
of sheep run on it during winter, and manured it from the 
sheep fold, and kept it up in this way twelve to fifteen years. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTUEE. 277 

during which it regained its original richness as the best of 
Kentucky land ; raised several crops of tobacco on it, and 
again put it in meadow, with the above treatment. During 
the last thirty-four years preceding date, it had been in 
hemp ; at last in corn, with an average product of seventy- 
seven bushels to the acre. 

In Rappahannock Co., Virginia, in 1847, the five field sys- 
tem was in use ; all the manure so put on, that three crops got 
the benefit of it ; plaster sown on corn land, one gallon of 
clover seed, and one bushel of plaster to the acre sown with 
wheat ; two years in clover, with plaster each year, last crop 
not good, but land left in good order to receive grass-seed. 
Another farmer represents the old wasteful methods continued 
for immediate market profits, and convenience in sowing 
wheat, but depreciates wheat after corn as bad farming, and 
gives his own rotation as maize, oats, wheat and clover; the 
clover being broken up for corn, and sheep fed on it in win- 
ter with preceding years fodder. In Delaware Co., Penn- 
sylvania, the five field system j corn, oats, wheat, clover and 
pasture, though varied in 1848 more or less with the market 
prices of grain ; three fields all the time in cultivation, corn,* 
oats and wheat. In Madison Co., New York, corn on sward, 
barley or oats, wheat in the fall, in spring, clover and herds 
grass. In Sullivan Co., N. H., corn or potatoes on sward, a 
year or two more with these in small grains, then grass. At 
Lake Village, N. H., a rotation of thirty years standing was 
potatoes, corn, wheat, grass mowed six or seven years till 
"bound out" ; but the last year before the report, corn was 
successfully planted the first year after breaking up. In 
1870, some of the Virginia rotations were corn, tobacco, 
wheat and clover ; corn, wheat or oats, clover or peas ; to- 
bacco or corn, wheat, clover or timothy, one year pasture ; 
wheat on grass, corn, oats. In 187 1, South Carolina land too 
wet for cotton, often produced corn. 



278 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

The following rotation generally feasible and profitable; 
cotton signifying any cultivated or summer crop, as cotton, 
corn, sorghum, peas or potatoes ; grain implies wheat, rye, 
oats or barley, and clover means any grass; 

1st year, Cotton — grain — clover — stubble — stubble. 

2d year, Grain — rest — clover — cotton — clover, 

3d year, Rest — clover — clover — grain — cotton. 

4th year, Clover — clover — cotton — rest — grain. 

5lh year, Clover — cotton — grain — clover— rest. 

Wheat is recommended to follow corn in this rotation. 

A few descriptions of rotations obtained from farmers in 
south-eastern Ohio in 1874, are as follows : Firsts on one of 
the oldest farms in the State, on the bottom of Muskingum 
river, near its mouth, soil a dark loam with some sand, oc- 
casionally overflowed; first crop corn on clover ground sown 
in the fall with rye, and pastured with sheep through March 
and April, then plowed and planted in corn, then another 
crop of corn, then wheat, with clover sowed in spring, then 
two years in meadow and pasture. Second, sandy soil on the 
plain above the former tract. First, potatoes ; second, corn 
after two plowings ; third, wheat ; if not strong, sow clover ; 
cut off the first crop of clover and turn the second down ; 
then corn ; if strong, corn again, if thin, wheat followed by 
clover. Third, Ohio river bottom land, originally very rich ; 
has been long in cultivation. First, wheat sown in Septem- 
ber on clover ground sown in the spring of the previous year ; 
second, corn; third, oats; fourth, wheat; fifth, clover, mown 
in June, and second crop plowed in. Foinih, hill farm near 
the mouth of Little Hocking, clay soil. First, grass and grain, 
except corn, for four years; second, corn; third, wheat; fourth, 
oats, followed by grass about four years. Fifth, rolling up- 
land, clay soil. P'irst, grass four years or more ; when this 
begins to runout, plant corn, then oats, then wheat. Seve- 
ral farmers in south-eastern Ohio describe their rotations as 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 279 

corn, wheat and grass in succession. To carry out a regular 
system of farm improvement, the cultivator should observe 
closely, and think for himself. It is of great advantage, when 
it can be kept up regularly, to have an agricultural diary, 
wherein he can jot down the results of his observations, 
the details of his experiments, and interesting incidents con- 
nected with his successive croppings. 

A large amount of statistics connected with agricultural 
matters are now being accumulated in public journals and 
documents, which with their relations to the events and facts 
of the respective times to which they belong, should be care- 
fully studied. Nothing helps progress more than the habit 
of looking through things, if the results of this insight are- 
turned to a good practical purpose. 



CHAPTER XI. 

ENEMIES TO MAIZE CULTURE. 

Under this head some reference will be made to those quad- 
rupeds, birds and insects, which are injurious to the maize 
growing farmer. Ill fed domestic animals sometimes are, 
where fences are bad. Much interesting matter on this 
subject will be found in the U. S. P. O. Reports, and the 
Agricultural Department's annual and monthly Reports. An 
entomologist has been connected with it, whose descriptions 
of the nature and habits of destructive insects, from year to 
year, have been learned and comprehensive. 

A full description of the beetle tribe is given in the Report 
for 1868. — Mr. Robert Kennicott, in that for 1S56, fills more 
than fifty pages with a treatise on the quadrupeds of Illinois, 
injurious or beneficial to the farmer, which is followed by a 
scientific description of the birds injurious to agriculture, by 



280 INDIAN CORN AND 1X9 CULTURE. 

Dr. Ezekiel Holmes, of Maine. Both these are largely illus- 
trated by plates. Among the former are described the va- 
rious families of squirrels, the prairie dog, the ground hog 
or woodchuck, meadow mouse, the white footed wood and 
prairie mice, the long-tailed jumping mouse, the prairie 
meadow mouse, the wood meadow mouse, the long-haired 
meadow mouse, the muskrat (which is said to be seldom se- 
riously injurious,) the common house mouse, and the brown 
and black rats. 

Among the birds described are the buzzards (red-tailed, 
Harlan's, and broad-winged,) the bald eagle, the red- winged 
starling (or corn-eater,) the orchard oriole, which devours 
some fruit, but helps the farmer by making away with per- 
nicious insects; the crow blackbird, which feeds on worms 
and grain and small crabs; the purple grackle, another crow 
blackbird, which sometimes pulls up seed corn. Louisiana 
planters sometimes steep their seed corn in a solution of glau- 
b€r's salts to prevent its ravages. The common crow is a 
very skillful robber of sprouting corn, but as he is also an 
enemy of snakes, frogs, lizards, grubs, insects and various 
species of Worms, and protects the farm-yard poultry from 
the hawk, he is considered by some to be more of a friend 
than an enemy. The common magpie eats worms, but some- 
times grain. The blue-jay is a great corn thief. The great 
American shrike devours caterpillars, insects and small birds, 
and is sometimes called the butcher bird. The wood-pecker 
eats corn, fruits and insects, (both the red-headed and golden- 
winged wood-peckers.) The Carolina parrot is chiefly a resi- 
dent of the south, but sometimes visits the lakes, and is a great 
pest to the farmer, destroying stacks of grain or the shocks 
standing in the field. "Hundreds are often slain by the side 
of a single stack, which they had covered so densely as to 
appear like a vast green cari)et spread over it." The pas- 
senger pigeon has a wide range, but is rarely met with except 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 281 

in vast flocks in immense forests, the trees being crushed or 
bhghted by their weight. Mr. Andubon once tried to count 
the (locks on the wing passing above him, and in a short time 
numbered 163, but could not keep the count, and desisted. 
He said the light of noonday was obscured by them in flying, 
as by an eclipse. They have the wings and eyes to search 
out the needed food through a very wide range in a very 
short time; and at once descend near the earth when passing 
over an inviting field ; and forced by hunger, alight and skim 
over the fallen forest leaves for mast ; stripping vast tracts of 
every atom of food. The whooping crane ranges from the 
Arctic regions to Texas, feeding on the rank herbage of 
swamps, especially the roots of the great water-lily, and when 
this fails, on corn, peas &c., water insects in wet fields, toads 
and frogs. 

A few pages in the U. S. P. O. Report, 1853, are given to 
notices of the friendly acts of these quadrupeds and birds. 
The slriped gopher or spermophile of Wisconsin, eats some 
corn and other grain, but prefers grasshoppers and mice, and 
keeps in check other destructive small quadrupeds. The im- 
portation of skylarks is recommended for their song and their 
raids on insects. Hawks and owls are thought to be the only 
birds really injurious to agriculture, as destroying poultry 
and small useful birds; crows and blackbirds doing more 
good in devouring worms than harm in pulling up corn. It 
is suggested that a boy be paid a small sum for watching the 
fields one or two weeks till the corn gets too strong for these 
depredations, and for the rest of the season the birds will 
work gratis in ridding the premises of mice, worms and snails. 
Some farmers at corn planting, scatter a bushel or so of shelled 
corn over the field, which the birds will probably pick up with 
the worms, and let the planted grain alone. 

It has been said that the statistical reports of Europe sel- 
dom mention a failure of crops from locusts, grasshoppers, 
24 



282 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CITLTUKE. 

curculio, grub-worii^, Hessian fly or weevil ; these being kept 
in check by armies of birds. 

M de Tschudi however, in an extended article on des- 
tructive insects and the utility of birds, a translation of which 
is found in the Ohio Agricultural Report for 1862, states that 
though the birds of northern Europe, in the winter when the 
insect world is asleep, visit the south to reproduce and feed 
on the larvae, eggs and nests of insects, flies, spiders and bark- 
eaters, their numbers seem insufficient; as complaints come 
from Germany and Switzerland of green meadows, vegetable 
gardens, and crops of wheat and flax being laid waste by the 
sudden influx of insects; the cockchafer being the greatest 
foe among the beetles; and of inferior insects, flies, gad-flies, 
wasps, worms and snails being too well known as plagues. 
This is charged to the increasing diminution of birds, con- 
sequent on progressive cultivation, accompanied with the 
cutting away of thickets, large trees and extensive wood- 
lands. Old trees full of small holes, the resting places of 
the insectivora, had been cut down right and left. The rage 
of the Italians for killing small birds is also referred to as a, 
cause of their diminished army; the little insectivora, in- 
cluding the nightingale, being slaughtered by the million in 
mere sport. The titmouse, wren, swallow and martin, the 
chaffinch, jay and jackdaw, are mentioned as very efl'ective 
in the war on destructive insects. The cuckoo is a great 
eater of caterpillars. Some comments followed IM de 
Tschudi's article, applying his remarks to the birds of 
Ohio : Birds of prey belonged to the first class, the insecti- 
vora to the second, fruit, grain and insect eaters to the third, 
and birds eating vegetables only, to the fourth. Of the 
second the woodpecker, humming-bird, whippoorwill, night- 
hawk, fly-catcher, thrush, warbler, mocking and cat bird, 
creeper and nuthatch are added to those already enumerated 
herein. Of the third class are mentioned the cedar bird and 



INDIAN COKN AND IT3 CULTURE. 283 

wax-wing, the shore lark, the whole family of Fringillidoe, 
including the grosbeaks, finches, yellow-bird, crossbills, spar- 
rows, buntings, indigo-bird, red-bird and ground robin, the 
family Icteridoe, which includes the bobolink, cow black bird, 
&c., the Coroid^, (raven, crow &:c.) ; the wild turkey, prairie 
, hen, pheasant and common quail. In the fourth class are 
the Carolina parrot, wild pigeon, dove and goose. 

Prof. Jenks being requested in 1858 by the Massachusetts 
Horticultural Society to report on the habits of the robin, 
stated as results of his observations that the gizzards of those 
killed in the morning were, as a rule, either entirely empty, 
or but partially distended "with food well 7nacerated\ 
while those killed in the latter part of the day were as uniform- 
ly filled with food freshly taken. * * From the almost daily 
examination of their gizzards, from the early part of March 
to the first of May, not a particle of vegetable matter was 
found in the gizzard of a single bird. On the contrary, in- 
sects in great variety, both as to number and kind, as well 
as in every variety of condition as to growth and develop- 
ment, were the sole food. But nine-tenths of the aggregate 
mass of food thus collected during this period, consisted of 
one kind of larva." 

Descriptions of the rapacious birds of Ohio are given in 
the Ohio Agricultural Report for 1858, by Mr. John Kirk- 
patrick. Immense flocks of birds sometimes gather in the 
suburbs of the smaller cities, and demolish small corn patches 
in a few hours. Moles, by many farmers, are considered 
great pests, as rooting up the soil where young plants are 
growing, and in some cases corn has been found in their 
stomachs; but probably in their underground movements, 
they are more in search of the wire -worm and other des- 
tructive vermin, of which they are said to devour immense 
numbers. The larvae of the May beetle eat into the roots of 
grain, and in turn are eaten, when they become perfect beetles, 



284 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

greedily by the crow, jay, night-hawk, whippoorwill and do- 
mestic poultry ; and hogs, weasels, rats, moles and field mice 
are also their enemies. 

One writer states that breaking ground in warm weather, 
when the grubs are not deep enough under the surface, is the 
best means of destroying the larvae of the allied species found 
ia Europe. A patch overrun with grubs is best in hog past- 
ure. (Dr. Fitch.) 

The worms found in flour and meal are said to be the larvae 
of a blackish brown colored beetle, and are much used in 
Germany by bird fanciers. They may be separated from the 
meal or flour by sifting through a fine sieve. 

The com emperor moth feeds on the blade of Indian corn, 
is two and one-fourth to two and three-fourths inches long; 
the sexes differing in color and size. For a particular descrip- 
tion see the U. S. P. O. Reports. The wire-worms feed on 
roots of plants. Soot and lime, chloride of lime, or nitrate 
of soda will destroy them ; also spirits of tar and sand, or 
lime from the gas works. (See U. S. Agricultural Report, 
1863.) Corn cobs have been recommended with the idea 
that the worms would burrow into the cobs and leave the crop 
unmolested. Fall plowing is said to bring grubs to the sur- 
face where they will be devoured by birds and small animals. 
Some English writers recommend sliced potatoes or turnips, 
strewed along the rows as bait for the wire-worms; the slices 
being examined every morning. 

The New England Farmer (vol. vii,) contains a method 
of avoiding the ravages of the weevil tried by James Carroll 
in 1827. A corn house was built with a door at each end, 
and in October the ears were pulled with the husks on and 
deposited therein, except on damp mornings. When husked 
two or three weeks after, they were found to have kept ad- 
mirably ; the only grains eaten by the fly being at the ends 
of ears not covered entirely with the husk. A very fine ear 



ISDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 285 

of the same crop was husked from the shock and laid away 
in a closet for a year, and when taken out was found com- 
pletely honeycombed by the fly. 

J. H. Dent of Barbour Co., Alabama, in 1849 wrote to the 
U. S. P, O. that the yellow corn was not so liable as the white 
to rot in the field, or so subject to the ravages of the weevil, 
which had lately been very destructive of the corn. It had 
been housed in the shuck, and in one or two instances salt 
water was sprinkled on each load as a protection, but with- 
out beneficial results. 

The chinch dug in Iowa, (1848,) was described as a small 
insect resembling a gnat; began on young corn in the spring, 
but if not numerous, did little damage. In 1870 it was very 
destructive there and in Kansas, and other north western 
Slates. They commenced in a corn-field on one side, and 
went through from row to row. In one case they were 
effectually stopped by taking a pail of water, with half a gal- 
lon of salt well stirred in it, and with a small broom or brush 
of feathers, sprinkling a row of corn just ahead of the bugs; 
taking care that the ground between the hills was well 
sprinkled with the brine. 

The monthly Report of the U. S. Agricultural Department 
for August and September 1876, gives their scientific name 
as Micropus {Rhyparochromus leucopierus) and says they showed 
themselves during August on the Atlantic slope, "having been 
noted at several points in the Mississippi valley during July. 
Davidson and Warren Counties, North Carolina, were troubled 
by them. In the latter, strong ley of wood ashes applied to the 
•cornstalk disposed of the pests. It was found necessary how- 
ever, not to allow the ley to come in contact with the corn bud, 
as it would probably destroy it." They threatened the corn in 
Boone and Winnebago Counties, Illinois. In parts of Wis- 
consin, they attacked the corn after destroying the wheat, 
stripping the corn blades when the grain was too hard for them. 



2SG INDIAN CORN ANI> ITS CTTXTUKB. 

The boll-worm, or corn worm {Heliothis artnigera,') in 1854, 
injured corn and cotton very much. It eats the growing 
grain in the husk. As a remedy, fires are made near the 
corn patch in the evening to attract the moths, destroy- 
ing them before their eggs are laid. (U. S. P. O. Report, 
187 1.) In 1876 they were reported in parts of Mississippi 
and Texas. 

The black cunulio ^iih. itscnriously wrought thorax, in 1870 
was very destructive to the young plants of maize fields in 
New Jersey, piercing the stems on which the larva lives. 

Dr. Walsh speaks of a similar insect as piercing corn blades 
with six or eight holes of the size of a pin or larger, and 
where these pests abound, every stalk is killed. 

The ravages of \\\e grasshopper have already been referred 
to. They are among the Orthoptcra, which includes also 
crickets, cockroaches &c., and are provided with jaws, the 
upper wings thick and opaque, while the large under ones 
are net veined, and fold like a fan. The transformations are 
partial, the larva and pupae resembling the perfect insect, 
but wanting wings. (See the U. S. Agricultural Report for 
1 868, which gives practical directions for farmer's sons to pur- 
sue the study of entomology.) 

A very full account of the grasshopper nuisance is given in 
the monthly U.S. Agricultural Reports for May and June 1876, 
and also for August and September. During the week end- 
ing August 1st, at Bartow Co., Georgia, they appeared in 
alarming numbers. One corn-field of twelve acres had not 
a blade of fodder left on it, and many of the young ears were 
destroyed. In Carroll Co., a very destructive kind never be- 
fore seen, had made its appearance. They may have been 
the Calpptcnus differen f talis. They were of various colors, 
green, yellow and striped, and they had put in an appearance 
in seven other counties. The caloptenus spretus were des- 
troying the crops and depositing their eggs in Minnesota ;. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 287 

they had ruined thousands of acres of grain in Iowa, and the 
entire grain crop of Montana, and all the corn crop of Da- 
kota ; were doing more or less damage in New Mexico, 
and Colorado, and caused great .destruction in parts of 
Kansas and Nebraska. In Minnesota they deposited their 
eggs in the fall, which were hatched in the following spring, 
or early summer. In the north-western States the grasshop- 
pers are identified with the Caloptcnus sprdus, which visits 
only regions west of the 1 7th meridian. At Osage, Nebraska, 
the incubation of these eggs in a field of oat stubble having 
been carefully noted, the average number of deposits to the 
square inch was estimated at fifteen ; reckoning thirty eggs to 
each dejDosit, the number infesting one acre would be im- 
mense. 

The C. femur rubrum, is the scientific name given to some 
grasshoppers damaging the corn crops in Pennsylvania and 
Tennessee ; they chewed tobacco in Virginia and Kentucky. 

The hetcroptcm^ including the plant-louse &c., feed on the 
juice of growing plants. In the U. S. P. O. Report, 1868, 
is given Prof. Glover's report on the food and habits of beetles 
i^Coleopkra.) The American works he refers to are those of 
Dr. Leconte, Say, Harris, Fitch and the American Entomolo- 
gist. Dr. Leconte's classification (the first part only, being 
then published,) reaches forty-five families of beetles. The 
second family^ Caralndce, or ground beetles, vary greatly in 
size, form and color ; are of so firm a make as to creep under 
stones, bark &c. Most of the species are very insectivorouf;. 
,. The larva of our native Oinophron laliatum.i^i) ^ 




/\ small beetle of black color, bordered with brownish 
yellow, is said to be very destructive to young maize in the 
southern States. The fifteenth family NitiditUdce, are usually 
small beetles of an oval, or depressed, or slightly convex form, 
sometimes almost globular or elongated. They live on de- 
composing substances, both animal and vegetable. The 



288 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 




second tribe of this family, Carpophilini, are usually flattened 
in form, and have the last two or three dorsal segments of the 
abdomen uncovered by the somewhat short wing cases; as the 
Colastus sciiiitcctus, (2) in the decayed ears of maize in 
the field, where they probably form minute fungi. Ca?-- 
,2) pophilus hemipterus, (3) a brownish black 
beetle, having four light spots on its short wing 
covers, is also found in similar situations. The 
insects of tribe three of the same family, Niti- 
dulini, are mostly small, with bodies oval, sub- 
depressed, tho rax margined, and their bodies 
covered with wing cases. 

Ipsquadrisignatus, (4) a small black beetle 

with four yellow spots or marks on the 

(■i) wing covers, is said to burrow into sweet corn. 

Of the seventeenth family, Trogositidx, insects having the 

body more or less depressed, with short club shaped antenna, 

the Trogosita dubia eats maize, beech nuts &c. Of the 

twentieth family Ciui/jidcv, (small insects almost always of a 

dejDressed, and usually of an elongated form,) a species, 

the Sylvanus Surinamcnsis (5) is a very minute beetle 

of a chestnut brown, and having several teeth or 

spines on the outer edge of the thorax ; is found in 

wheat and maize. 

Sylvanus qitadricollis (6) resembles the 
others in general appearance,' but has a quad- 
rate or .four square thorax. The egg is laid 
near the germ, in maize; the larva feeds on 
the substance of the grain. 

The thirty-second family contains insects, 
the hind legs of which are placed so near the 
extremity of the body as to give the beetle a 
most extraordinary appearance while walking, and is called 
Scaraboeidae after the Scarabocus, the sacred beetle of the 







INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 289 

Egyptians. A sub-family Melolonthidoe, feed wholly on vege- 
table matter. 

It includes the rose bug, Macrodactylus subspino- 
sus; (7) the perfect beetle appearing in May and 
June, on roses and other flowers, and maize does 
not escape its attacks. 
- The Euryomia (^Erirhipis) Inda, (8) 
is a very common beetle of a brown color, check- 
ered or mottled with a darker tint, which feeds 
on the sap of maize and cotton bolls. 

The wire wortn has been for a long time a 
pest to corn fields. It has been, described as /gx 

a yellow, hard worm, about one inch long, and of the size 
of a knitting-needle. It works itself into the heart of the 
corn before it is up, and afterwards around the roots, keep- 
ing back the growth of the plant. It was very destructive 
in some parts of Maryland in 1847. ^n Ontario Co., N. Y., 
farmer wrote to the U. S. P. O. in 1853, that fall plowing 
generally prevented its ravages. 

A Berkshire Co., Mass., farmer, (1853) in reference to 
worms generally, wrote that fall plowing did not prevent 
them ; he had^seen cases the previous season, of fall plowed 
fields where their ravages were horrible, while in others of 
similar soil, plowed in spring, no bad effects were visible. 

The cut worm is said to be more injurious in spring. Many 
years ago, in some situations, it was thought to cease its rava- 
ges before late corn planting. A Bradford Co., Pa., farmer, 
in 1853, stated that some planted their corn about June ist, 
to escape it. Mr. Klippart, in the Ohio Agricultural Report, 
1858, said the only way to get rid of these pests in green- 
sward corn-fields, was to kill them outright in their hiding 
places, with sharp sticks, early in the morning; but they could 
be prevented by plowing the sward in August of the previous 
year. It was also stated by an eastern farmer, that fall or 



290 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTUKE. 

winter plowing was the only chance to escape them. The 
crow is said to eat them. Many farmers say that the young 
corn destroyed by these birds had ahnost invariably a cut- 
worm or insect preying on its roots. Others think the crows 
do more harm than good. 

It has been advised by some to soak the seed corn in cop- 
peras water, or a solution of copperas and saltpetre, tar it 
and roll in lime, as a preventative to the cut-worm and most 
other devourers — but the grub worm was excepted out. This 
was worst in summer. 

A Niagara Co., N. Y., farmer, (1853) wrote that the most 
successful tillage had been found to be plowing a highly 
manured clover ley in the fall, that the frost might destroy 
the grub-worm. Another from Troy, N. Y., that sod plow- 
ing in the fall was more apt to kill it than spring plowing. 

It seems probable, from the report of the entomologist for 
1866, that the large white grub worm so destructive to corn 
crops in some parts of Michigan, was the larva of a beetle, 
the May bug. A Virginia farmer gave as a reason for leaving 
only one or two stalks in the hill, that birds and insects at- 
tacking a hill of a dozen stalks generally destroyed all; but 
he generally destroyed the worms by grazing the land in- 
tended for corn, during the previous fall. 

The larvae of some beetles feed on the army worm, which 
has infested certain eastern corn-fields. The hunter weevil 
was an eater of corn leaves, and the larva of a similar insect 
in South Carolina so fed on the corn-stalk, as to destroy the 
])lant; the only known remedy then being hand picking and 
burning of the infested plant. At Washington, Miss., in 1 849, 
it was found necessary to plant hard , flinty corn to head the 
weevil, with which not only the cribs, but the heads of corn 
in the field were infested. This was Inownasthe "black 
weevil," or true rice weevil, distinguished from the European 
by two reddish spots on each wing cover. D. L. White of 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 291 

Gadsden Co., Fla., in storing his corn, threw a quantity of 
the berries and leaves of the China tree into each load, as it 
was deposited in his corn house ; having from several years 
experience found it a good preventative of weevil and rats. 

It is very important to destroy parent insects before they 
have time to deposit their eggs. For one in April, there are 
thousands in autumn. 

Some of the beetle tribe are beneficial. The first family ' 
includes the tiger beetles, which in both the larva and per- 
fect state destroy all the insects they can. Of the second 
family, the Calosoma Calidum is very common in Maryland 
and Virginia, and the larva was caught eating the caterpillars 
of the common army worm ; great numbers of the larvae were 
seen destroying all that crossed their path. Some became so 
bloated with this food as to be unable to move, and became 
the prey of their lean and nimble brethren. 

Dr. Fitch, in his report on the injurious insects of New York, 
in 1856, says that in Europe insects most destructive to grain 
are so preyed upon by their internal parasites, as to be en- 
tirely harmless, and recommends the importation of these 
parasites to keep down the grain pests. Every insect is 
thought to have an insect enemy ; and when these last are 
destroyed, the first riot in destruction. 

Wilson's Cyclopedia recommends as against the wire -worm 
the sprinkling of hot lime from a bag, after dark or immedi- 
ately after a rain. 

A species of uredo is referred to as a parasite on the flower 
of maize. The ovules of the phaloena forficalis are some- 
times deposited in the culms, and their larvse in feeding, en- 
feeble or destroy the spikes. 

The grub-worm has been spoken of as one of the most 
destructive insects in the United States. A Jay County In- 
dianian, (Cincinnati Weekly Gazette, 1873,) describes its 
ravages as far exceeding those of the cut-worm, because ex- 



292 IMDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

tending beyond the season of repair by re-planting ; its coil- 
ing around the main root cuts ofif light and heat from above 
and moisture from below. In a field of Indian corn infested 
by him, this being his especial delight, many hills are seen be- 
hind their fellows in growth, though not deficient in color ; 
the leaves being erect and pointed, sometimes tinged with 
red, dark or pale green ; and the plants do not mature, but 
struggle on uselessly Avhile the grub gnaws their vitals. 

Another Indianian in ditching in the fall a corn-field where 
the grubs had been very bad for the two previous years, and 
especially the first year, at the depth of eighteen inches dug 
up the shell or skin of the grub-worm ; close to it was a June 
bug, and further on was one partly out; this was supposed 
to lay the egg from which the grub is hatched. The worm 
is small when it first appears, and only works on the corn two 
years ; in the first all the year, in the next only till June ; and 
the following year the bugs come. A Wayne County Indian- 
ian found manure freely applied to corn ground a good 
remedy against grubs; throwing it out of the stables into a 
wagon and going right to the field with it. A Highland 
County Ohioan in 1872, had found from three years ex- 
perience, that this worm did not injure his corn when he 
hauled on horse manure from his stable as it accumulated. 

The importance of the study of entomology to the farmer 
is apparent from the above statements. Insects are to a large 
extent gleaners of vegetable and animal matter going to waste, 
or scavengers of unhealthy or dead matters, and naturally 
prefer such. If this supply fails, they may devour one 
another, or healthy and firm growths, such as maize ; though 
much depends on the habits of the special insect. If the 
parasite does not destroy the insects in sufficient numbers to 
keep them in check, there are the birds, which from the 
necessities of their intensely active nature, generally prefer 
animal food, to do this as effectually ; and if insect food fails, 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 293 

the birds that feed on them attack the grahi. The bat is also 
insectiverous. 

Certain small quadrupeds that infest maize fields and grana- 
ries, as mice and rats, we have seen, find enemies in the 
weasel, cat, dog and the larger birds — not excepting the 
owl. The rabbit and hare, which might be great maize eat- 
ers, are too highly prized as game to be troublesome on a 
large scale, unless in a newly settled country. One hare has 
been known however, to tip off in one night forty or fifty 
rods of a row of corn. 

It is very necessary to put all these facts together, to see 
why apparently there should be contradictory statements as 
to certain prescribed remedies. 

Some of the diseases of the maize plant mentioned as pre- 
vailing in Mexico are La raquittc, a kind of wastmg con- 
sumption, where the plant is grown on barren soil, and soon 
after planting is exposed to moist, cold weather. El ca7'bon, 
a vegetable carbonaceous growth in the ears, or one which 
makes the buds abortive. El hango forms itself in the ear 
and destroys it. 

Others are mentioned in the U. S. P. O. Report, (1847 s) 
one as prevailing in Maryland, attributed to drought in 
the early part of the season, and the rains which succeeded 
in August. Dr. Muse describes the cap of the injured ear as 
discolored ; and when opened, a few grains near the apex 0/ 
the ear, and one side of it mark the commencement of the 
disease, appearing sickly and shrivelled. This increases in 
space and intensity till the whole ear is a black rotten mass, 
while the parent stem has a healthful and vigorous appear- 
ance. Solar influence is probably wanting to aid the vitality 
of the plant in the elaboration of juices — to decompose the 
carbonic acid, fix its carbon, and restore to the atmosphere 
its oxygen. 

Smut in corn is a common disease. Probably the best thing 



294 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. ' 

that can be done to prevent it is to spread the manure sup- 
plied from the barn-yard carefully, and put in the hills only 
well rotted manure, and watch the field about earing time 
and remove the ears inclined to this disease as fast as they 
appear. A correspondent of the New England Farmer in 
Vol. VII, thinks the cause is the exuberance of the fluid that 
forms the kernel ; that "the vessels are surcharged, and burst 
before the aliment can be fully concocted and disposed of." 
He had cultivated a field eight years before, and obtained the 
premium. To a liberal supply of strong manure, he added 
the usual quantity to the hill ; the season was very favorable, 
growth rapid and vigorous, the stalk large, and prolific in 
suckers. As the ear formed, the smut appeared; he did not 
dislodge it until it burst ; fifty wheel-barrow loads of it to the 
acre were consigned to his hog pen. Still his field produced 
the largest crop of corn he ever raised. He grew corn in the 
same field the season of his writing the above, with no varia- 
tion except in dre^s^ng. His coarse stable manure was 
spread and plowed in as before, the hills manured from com- 
post made the previous year in his yard, carted in autumn and 
thrown into large heaps and covered from the weather. The 
season was equally favorable, and the product nearly the 
same, and not the fiftiedi part of the loss by smut; what there 
was was severed, but there was too little of it to be worth 
taking to the hog pen; the suckers also were too few to do any 
harm. The lessening of the smut seems to have been due to 
tiie quality of the manure put in the hill. 

To prevent shelled corn from becoming musty, it should be 
carefully shielded from damp ; should be spread on a floor to 
dry not over sixteen or eighteen inches in depth, and frequent- 
ly turned, and if still inclined to be damp, should be kiln 
dried. But corn is best saved in the ear. 

A more thorough system of draining, carried cut on a 
widely extended scale, may greaUy diminish the diseases to 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTUEE. '29S 

which the maize plant is subject, and improvements in modes 
of cultivation and in farm building, may lessen them much 
more ; and immunity from disease might be a great protection 
against its other enemies. How far the grasshopper plague 
is connected with the vast scale on which the Great West has 
been suddenly opened up by the plow, or how far it is the 
result of the destruction of natural enemies, are subjects which 
may perhaps be better understood when the mountain regions 
are more compactly settled. 



CHAPTER Xn. 

LARGE CROPS OF MAIZE PER ACRE. 

Large crops are valuable as showing what can be done on 
the richest soils, in the most favorable seasons, and with high 
culture. A general average of good crops is of more im- 
1-ortance to the country than a few extraordinary ones where 
the average is very low. They are most valuable where they 
indicate the use of the best fertihzers and the best modes of 
cultivation capable of being generally adopted. Those to 
which reference is made herein will be chiefly those noticed 
in the Reports issued by the U. S. Government, or the State 
of Ohio. 

(a.)— One of the largest general crops of maize was raised 
in Jessamine Co., Kentucky, a very rich agricultural district, 
and was referred to at the close of chapter ix, herein. It 
was a premium crop ; five acres being measured by a com- 
mittee of the Agricultural Society of that County, and the 
whole crop pronounced the same average. A full account 
of the mode of culture was given in the Louisville Journal at 
the time ; and the following items are stated from recollection, 
the account being read in that journal at the time of pub- 



29C INDIAN COKN AND ITS CULTCBE. 

lication with much interest. The same system had been 
ibllowed up for a considerable time by the same cultivator, 
and it was stated that he never failed to raise one hundred 
bushels of shelled corn to the acre. The year of this extra- 
ordinary crop of 196 bushels to the acre, was a very favorable 
one for corn. The sod of eight years in grass was plowed 
deeply in the fall, the winter freezing and thawing making it 
very mellow; in the spring it was re plowed with a smaller 
plow, harrowed out three feet each way, and planted between 
the 20th and 25th of March, from four to six inches deep; 
the latter depth much preferred ; six to eight kernels in the 
hill. When it was fairly out of the ground, the large tri- 
angular harrow was dragged over the rows (the front tooth 
being taken out.) by two horses, one walking on each side. 
When the corn was about a foot high, the small plow was run 
twice in the rows with the bar next and very close to the corn, 
throwing the earth from it, and the stalks in each hill reduced 
to four. It was also plowed in the same w^ay crosswise. 
Shortly after, for fast working was the rule, the plow was run 
through the rows twice each way with the mould board 
towards the plant, throwing the earth to it. The corn grew 
so rapidly that little more working was required, and when 
four feet high, it completely shaded the ground ; the weeds 
stood no chance, and excessive evaporation was prevented. 
From its early start, it had the benefit of the best rains, and 
reached an early maturity, sufficient for cutting up at the 
ground in the usual way. It is evident, on comparing this 
method with others commonly followed in similar latitudes, 
that it is only practicable as to time of planting and depth of 
covering, where the situation is unusually warm, and the soil 
favorable for very rapid growth. The rich grass ley plowed 
in the fall and re- plowed in spring, so as to disturb the decay- 
ing sod as little as possible, and the rapid culture after plant- 
ing, have been recommended by others. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 297 

(l>.) — In the Ohio Agricultural Report for 1862 it was 
stated that there were annual applications to the State Board 
of Agriculture for premiums on corn crops. These set forth 
under oath all the details of culture, expense and product ; 
and these statements were annually forwarded to the State 
Board of Agriculture, and published in the annual Report. 
Since 1850, sworn statements of the following crops had been 
received viz: Nine crops over 150 bushels to the acre, 
eight between 140 and 150 bushels; nine between 130 and 
140; thirty-four between 120 and 130; twenty-three between 
no and 120; sixteen between 100 and no; nineteen be- 
tween 90 and 100 ; twenty-one between 80 and 90 ; in ail 139 
crops producing between 80 and 160 bushels to the acre. 

(c.) — Two crops of corn in Fairfield Co., Ohio, competing 
for the premium for the largest yield on one acre, offered by 
the Agricultural Society of that County in 1862, were de- 
scribed as follows : S. Barr took the first premium — 99^ 
bushels ; bottom land ; first crop after grass, plowed in the 
spring; marked out both ways; corn harrowed and plowed 
three times. — W. Graham, a competitor, raised 92 bushels to 
the acre on soil, black mould meadow ; sod broken in March, 
under-drained ; planted about May 5th in rows three and one- 
half feet each way ; from three to five stalks in the hill ; well 
attended with cultivator and shovel plow. 

(d.) — In 1869 S. R. Humes of Champaign Co., Ohio, took 
a premium for 85 bushels on one acre, awarded by the Agri- 
cultural Board of that County, and described the soil pro- 
ducing it of that kind known as "barrens," composed largely 
of yellowish sand and clay, one to two feet deep ; then a 
stratum of lime, gravel, clay and sand mixed, two to four 
inches thick, and very hard, which dug up and pulverized, 
looks like a mixture of sand and lime. Underlying this a 
bed of limestone gravel of indefinite thickness. The corn- 
field was the oldest on his farm, and had been in cultivation 



298 INDIAN CORX AND ITS CULTURE. 

over sixty years ; was near the barn ; during the previous win- 
ter cattle and horses were fed on it, till it was thickly covered 
with cornstalks; was plowed in March with a three horse 
yilow, eight to ten inches deep, turning all the stalks nicely 
under, was well harrowed and rolled, and marked out forty- 
four inches each way, with a double shovel marker ; planted 
May 14th and 15th; and worked four times with a double 
shovel plow. 

Robert Belt took a premium from the Union Co., 
Ohio, Agricultural Society in 1869 for 81 bushels 361bs., on 
one acre; soil second bottom, sod plowed for the first time ; 
no manure used ; planted with a drill, three and one-half feet 
wide, on May 25th; plowed through twice with a double 
shovel ; husked November 4th and 5th. 

(e.) — At the nineteenth annual exhibition of the Carroll 
Co., Ohio, Agricultural Society, premiums were awarded to 
W. S. Easterday for 160 bushels of shelled corn on one acre, 
and 132 shelled per acre, on three acres of corn, and to Jas. 
McCausland for 114 bushels shelled on one acre; modes of 
culture not given. 

(/) — One of the most remarkable crops on record was 
raised by a farmer in the northern part of Hamilton Co., 
Ohio, — 172 bushels of shelled corn to an acre, on white oak 
upland, part of a farm considered run down; it being a clover 
and timothy sod of three years standing. In the fall and 
winter of 1846 some thirty head of hogs were fattened on 
corn scattered over the worst part of the field. About March 
1847, it received a moderate dressing of barn-yard manure; 
was plowed from six to eight inches deep; corn planted in 
rows four feet apart and averaging about one foot distance in 
the rows. Its first appearance was unfavorable amongst the 
large pieces of hard clay ; but by degrees the yellow patches 
disappeared, and as soon as the roots pierced the clay to the 
sod, the plants had a healthy color and rapid growth. During 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 299 

the whole cultivation, care was taken to disturb the sod as 
little as possible. Two loads of turnips on the same acre 
came off with the corn. This crop shows the value of hog 
manure in bringing up corn land. 

(g.) — In the same year a crop of 122 bushels two quarts 
on one acre in Harrison Co., Ohio, took the premium; soil 
black limestone, plowed late in the spring, cultivated three 
times, and hoed twice; it being the third crop in succession 
taken off the land. It must have been a first rate soil to have 
worn so well. In the same year a Lorain County farmer took 
the premium for 160 bushels per acre raised on land always 
pastured till 1846. Plowed eight to sixteen inches deep and 
planted in corn. In May 1847, plowed two inches deeper, 
and ridged about three feet apart, the rows the other way 
three and one-half feet apart. Used the cultivator first, twice 
in a row, once one way, and once the other, and hoed. 
Second time, twice in a row one way, and once the other, not 
hoed. Used the Michigan or Harmon's improved cultivator. 
Cut and shocked October 8th. Lorainis one of the Lake coun- 
ties whose moistand equable climate has been spoken of herein. 

(//.) — To show what can be done on Ohio bottoms after 
forty- seven years cultivation without manure, one of the 
premium crops grown by Ohio County Societies is noticed in 
the U. S. Agricultural Report, 1868, as follows: H. N. Gil- 
let, of Lawrence Co., raised on one acre 99 bushels i2^1bs 
corn, soil one-fifth white oak, sandy clay loam, balance alluvial 
with blue clay subsoil ; land broken about a foot deep, harrowed 
once, and laid off three feet nine inches each way ; planted 
with Gillett's improved corn; worked each way, when quiie 
young, with cultivator ; hoed once, and thinned to two stalks, 
plowed twice, and just before the tassel appeared, worked 
by running the cultivator across the furrows of the last plow- 
ing, holding up the side of the plow next to the row, so as to 
barely scarify the surface near the corn. 



300 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 

Some of the prize corn crops of north-western Ohio from 
1849 to 1870, as tabulated in the Ohio Geological Report for 
1870, were, in Crawford Co., 1849, three acres, 87 bushels 
totheacre;in 1851,88^ bushels; in 1852, i26;in 1853, i2gj^; 
in 1S59, 128 ; in i860, one of 160 bushels on one acre, one of 
152^, one of 131 and one of 138. Allen Co., in 1852, 
iio}4 bushels to the acre, in 1853, 94; and in Auglaize Co.. in 
1870, T^22,}{ bushels on one acre. Henry Co., in 1853, pro. 
duced 137)2 ; Mercer, in 1852, 97^ ; and Putnam in 1859, 
109 bushels. This part of Ohio was more recently settled, 
much of it being swampy. 

(/.) — Large crops are not so common in the southern States. 
One in 1845 was mentioned as taking the prize in Buncombe 
Co., North Carolina, of 113^ bushels to the acre. Several 
cases of large ears are recorded. Two ears were left at the 
office of the Savannah Republican (nearly fifty years ago) for 
inspection, which grew on the same stalk; one had 11 40 
grains, the other 1020 ; said to be average ears of a fourteea 
acre field of corn, three miles from Savannah, Georgia. — An 
ear of corn measuring sixteen inches in length and seven in 
circumference, grown in the State of Tabasco, Mexico, was 
presented to the Editor of the New Orleans Picayune. Ohio 
has grown some large ears. The Western Herald, (Steuben - 
ville.) mentions one thirteen inches long and ten in circur'*- 
ference, with forty rows, each sixty grains, total 1200, left at 
the Herald Office. New Jersey grew a cornstalk more than 
six inches in circumference, and thirteen feet nine inches 
liigh. The only manure used was eighty bu.shels of stone 
lime to the acre. 

(7.) — Pennsylvania is not generally so remarkable for ex- 
traordinary crops as for very good averages. A very good 
description of the method of raising 100 bushels to the acre 
is given by a farmer of Venango Co , in the U. S. Agricultural 
Report for 1S53. A meadow, clover field or old pasture is 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, SOI 

chosen ; if wet or spouty, is thoroughly drained ; twenty-five 
to thirty loads to the acre of ^jd manure, or more of inferior, 
are added ; one load spread at a time, and immediately plow- 
ed under ; a handful of plaster being dusted on each heap as 
deposited in the field. Old lands are mostly plowed nine 
inches deep and subsoiled ; new lands plowed more shallow ; 
the furrows are so well turned that no grass will harrow up. 
After a few days drying, the field is harrowed till there is 
enough loose soil to cover the corn ; but not enough to make 
the ground very smooth, lest the rains should make it heavy. 
The furrowing is shallow enough not to disturb the sod ; wider 
apart for the large varieties, three feet for eight rowed yel- 
low. For planting, settled weather and warm soil in good 
condition to receive the seed are waited for, say for latitude 
4i}i°, from the middle to the last of May. A variety adapt- 
ed to a colder climate should be at hand, when an unfavor- 
able spring makes the usual time unsuitable, or for second 
planting when the first fails. The ground being well pre- 
pared shortly before planting, the most careful hands drop 
the seed, four or five grains in a hill to be distributed over a 
space six or eight inches in diameter ; followed by others with 
hoes to cover every grain away from the birds. If these 
begin taking up the corn, a bushel sown broadcast over the 
field will protect the whole crop. Plaster may be applied at 
planting. As soon as the plants are fairly up, the rows are 
dressed thoroughly with the corn harrow or cultivator, fol- 
lowed by hoes, killing every weed and every particle of grass ; 
those in the hills being removed by hand. A little plaster is 
dusted on each hill at this stage, or a larger quantity sown 
broadcast ; if ashes were not applied at planting, they are ap- 
plied now. The crop to be kept clean with the shovel plow 
or cultivator, finishing with the common plow passing three 
times in a row ; the third time very deep, and a thorough 
hoeing without hilling. This working is finished about July 



302 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

4th, the field being entirely clear of weeds. Thus tilled the 
land yields at lea^t one hundred bushels of sound shelled corn 
per acre, costing but a trifle more than a crop of fifty bushels. 

A crop in south-eastern Pennsylvania was reported about 
the year 1845, of loi^^ bushels to the acre on old grass sod 
of twenty years standing. Seven years before it received a 
dressing of lime, fifty bushels to the acre. It was broken up 
in the spring seven inches deep, with a Prouty plow, marked 
out four and one-half by four feet, six grains planted in the 
hill between the ist and 5th of the 5th month, May, which 
were thinned to four. Corn up two or three inches high, each 
hill was plastered — the only manure used. The after cul- 
tivation was with the corn harrow, and once with the shovel 
plow, the weeds not reached by the harrow being subdued by 
the hand hoe. Much was due to deep plowing with the 
Prouty plow, which was very effective in pulverizing the sod 
as it was turned over. This was in about latitude 40°, show- 
ing an earlier planting than the last named crop by nearly 
two weeks. 

Another Pennsylvania crop was reported in 1845 of 1820' 
bushels raised on twelve acres, or 151 bushels to the acre, on 
a field originally the poorest on the farm. It was more or 
less a re-planting after the first had been cut off by the cut- 
worm and blackbirds. A compost was made of twenty-five 
bushels of leached ashes, ten of plaster of Paris, sixteen of 
lime, and about fifty of fine sheep manure, well mixed on the 
barn floor, and the lime dissolved with beef and pork brine. 
A handful of this compost was put in each hill of corn till it 
was found insufficient for the whole twelve acres, and then 
divided between two or three hills for the balance. 

(k.) — Chemung Co., New York, in 1845 had five premium 
crops, the samples of corn exhibited being all good, and the 
product per acre being respectively 123, 121^4^, 113^4^, 
1 19 14 and 107}^ bushels. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 303 

An experiment reported (1845) from Waterloo, New York, 
shows what can be made out of a peaty swamp — 140 bushels 
of sound corn per acre. After the second hoeing, in the 
height of the summer drought, when the ears had commenced 
forming, the whole of the loose peaty mass was found full of 
moisture, probably due to its fine state of decomposition. 

The year 1847 seems to have been prolific in premium 
crops. Different County Societies in New York reported 
prerriiums on the following yields per acre, 143, 140, 137, 
129, 127, i24j 116, 112, no, 107, 100, and so on down to 
fifty bushels. 

(/.) — Connecticut about the year 1844-5 fi-irnished reports 
of several large crops; one to the Middlesex Co. Society of 
one-fourth acre producing at the rate of 151 bushels to the 
acre on sward ground highly manured and planted three feet 
apart each way. Another in Middletown, on sward rolled 
after plowing, and two coats of fine hog-pen manure placed 
on top and harrowed in, about sixty-five cart loads to the 
acre ; planted May 20th, four kernels m hills three and one- 
half by two and one-half feet apart. Soil gravelly loam ; the 
seed was rolled in plaster ; the suckers were all removed from 
the hills at the last hoeing; produced 108^ bushels to the 
acre of corn with ears well filled with large kernels ; the 
quality very superior. 

Bridgeport furnished the following account of highly suc- 
cessful croppings: Old meadow land turned over in early 
November with a heavy subsoil plow, followed by a heavy 
roller over the furrows ; cross plowed in the spring and har- 
rowed twice. Is manured wilh a mixture of one-third creek 
mud, or decomposed vegetable matter, one-third stable or 
barn-yard manure, one-third unslacked lime taken from the 
bottom of the kiln. Five grains of the best selected corn are 
planted in hills three to four feet apart, and as the corn shows 
Itself, unleached ashes are placed on the outside of the young 



304 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURK. 

])lants, the rain or atmospheric moisture carrying it to the 
roots of the plants. The field is kept clean Irom weeds, and 
hoed three times. In the summer of 1842-3, nine acres of 
corn were planted, one-half L. I. yellow, and one half J.ong 
l.Uand white, two acres of the resulting crop were measured, 
one white and one yellow — the white gave 236 bushels of 
we.l grown cars, the yellow, 224. The atmosphere in that 
neighborhood being too salt for the use of plaster, its appli- 
cation to land was given up. 

(;;/.) — Massachusetts has an early record in respect to large 
yields per acre. John Andrew, of Salem, in 1827 raised 166 
bushels of corn from one and a half acres, more than no bush- 
els per acre. A Berkshire Co., correspondent (1845) says 
that more than twenty pieces of land in corn were reported 
as producing one hundred bushels to the acre and over. From 
the U. S. Agricultural Report, 1869, it appears that the an- 
nual increase on the crops of this State was slight for the pre- 
vious twenty years. It only needed the timely application 
of wood ashes to the hill, and careful stirring of the soil to 
produce seventy-five bushels per acre.. In Dukes County, 
an island off a bleak coast, three farmers raised respectively 
109^, jo8}4 andio2i/( bushels of maize. 

Vermont, (Windham Co.,) in 1845, reported a premium 
crop of 106 bushels to the acre, from the use of muck. An 
old number of the American Farmer gives a sketch of the 
possibilities of corn raising as follows : It might be possible 
to make some fraction of an acre of ground so perfect in its 
soil as to produce and maintain to maturity, one stalk of In- 
dian corn upon every twenty-four inches of square surface. 
If we allow one good ear to each stalk, and half a pint of grain 
to each ear, the product would be about at the rate of 168 
bushels to the acre. It would be a very easy matter to try 
the above experiment by making the hills of corn two feet 
apart each way, planting three or four kernels in a hill, and 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 305 

leaving at the first or second time of hoeing, but one stalk in 
a hill • each kernel to be planted at such a distance from its 
next neighbor, as to be pulled out "without deranging the 
economy of the hill." 

Higher yields than this have already been mentioned from 
seed planted at distances apart common at the east and fre- 
quent at the west. 

(«.) — As an offset to the large crop from peaty soil in the 
north, above referred to, we give a recent one from swamp 
land in Georgia on 1.012 acre (210 feet square) which took 
the premium at the State Fair at Macon. It was "branch 
land" (creek bottom) black mud, or a muck swamp five feet 
deep, mixed with sand, and before reduced to cultivation 
was covered with brush and cane. The plot was bounded 
on three sides by a small running stream or "spring branch," 
formed by cutting into the ditches five feet deep, and making 
a ditch of the same depth on the fourth side. By the time 
the drainage was completed and the swamp cleared of its 
growth, the season was far advanced. The land was then 
broken up with Bloodworth's iron plow with subsoil attach- 
ment, and the soil bedded up, leaving water furrows forty- 
five inches apart ; three hundred bu.shels of fresh horse ma- 
nure were then distributed in the furrows, by the side of which 
the plow was again run, covering the manure. Red cob 
gourd seed, previously soaked in water till in sprouting con- 
dition was drilled iu the last made furrow, ten inches apart, 
on June ist, 1869. Midway between these drillings and in the 
same farrows, Dickson's guano was dropped, a spoonful at a 
time; direct contact of the corn either with the guano or the 
horse manure being thus avoided. The land being warm, 
tlie corn appeared in a few days. A turn plow was then run 
each side of the row, throwing the earth away from the corn, 
which was then hoed and thinned. Ten days after a shovel 
plow was run around the corn, followed in a week after by a 
2G 



306 INDIAN COKN AND ITS CCLTUKE, 

turn plow throwing the earth to the corn. This process of 
throwing to, was repeated after ten days. Another ten days 
elapsing, the earth was drawn up around the corn by a hand 
hoe, ten inches high. About August ist the drought set in, 
and for the purpose of irrigation a dam was thrown across the 
outlet of the ditches and the water backed upon the soil. The 
crop obtained was 1377- bushels of corn, or 135^ bushels 
per acre. Net profit S136, 07 per acre. 

((?) — What an acre of prairie soil can be made to yield of 
maize is shown in one of the reports of competitors for the 
premium offered by the Coles County, Illinois, Agricultural 
Society. 10623 bushels per acre were produced, or 1,066-3 
bushels on ten acres of old prairie ground, twelve years in 
meadow, plowed early in April, seven inches deep, harrowed 
well, and planted in May, three and one-half feet each way, 
and covered with hoes; plowed five times with cultivator or 
shovel plow, and hoed twice, thinning to three stalks in 
the hill. Another entry was made of ten acres prairie loam, 
barley stubble, plowed ten to twelve inches deep widi a three 
horse team, and planted two and one-half by three and one- 
half feet, cultivated three times and shovel plowed once. 
Yield 10631^ bushels, or an average of JoSy'i bushels per 
acre. 

(p.) — The hilly county of Washington Ohio, produced in 
1847 a premium crop of 144 bushels of corn to the acre, and 
another on high hilly land of 1 1 7 bushels. In the same year 
the Trumbull Co., Agricultural Society reported a crop of 
corn on two acres measured and producing 200 bushels on 
upland, sandy and gravelly soil, which had been in spring 
wheat the year previous, })lowed in the fall and again in the 
spring and manured with barn-yard manure, planted about 
May 25th in hills four feet apart one way and three and one- 
half feet the other, attended with the cultivator, and hoed 
twice. The same farm -r exhibited to the measurers another 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE 307 

field planted ia rows three and one-half feet apart each way, 
lacking a little of two acres, of which they adjudged the pro- 
duct to be no bushels to the acre. 

{q) — An experiment was tried near Columbus Ohio, an 
account of which was published in 1S58, on bottom land 
which for forty years previous had never been plowed to a 
depth exceeding six inches, and which had been cultivated 
carefully in corn during the entire period ; plowed 1 1 3/^ acres 
eight inches deep, subsoiled eight inches deeper, and jjlanted 
corn May loth. Adjoining this a tract was plowed to the 
usual depth of previous years, and planted with corn May 
7th. On the shallow sod the corn came up and looked for a 
few weeks as well as on the deep plowed land, but when the 
heat of July carne round, the corn omthe shallow plowed land 
came to a stand still ; the leaves curled and drooped, and gave 
unmistakable evidence of suffering from drought; while that 
on the deep i)lowed land was growing vigorously, and found 
no lack of moisture; the result being 120 bushels to the acre 
on the latter, while the shallow plowed tract produced less 
than forty bushels. 

(r) — The heaviest yield on one acre on this list is men- 
tioned in the U. S. Agricultural Report, 1870, as being re- 
ported by J. W. Parker to the annual Convention of the South 
Carolina Agricultural and Mechanical Society, for 1869. 

The mode of culture which produced this yield, together 
with the one preceding it on the same ground, is thus de- 
scribed. A quagmire was selected, grown over with rushes, 
willows and sour grass, abounding with snakes and malaria, 
and traversed by a winding sluggish stream. "Thorough 
drainage was attained by the construction of a canal and 
underdrains, and during the summer the land was cleared, 
leveled and broken up with a two horse plow." In Novem- 
ber a heavy coat of cow-house manure was plowed under, 
and the process repeated in January, and again in M mh 



308 INDIAN COR\ AND ITS CULTURE. 

wiih subsoiling. In April a heavy growth of weeds was 
limed and turned inider. In May another coat of manure 
was plowed under^ and the land harrowed perfectly level, 
and laid off in rows three feet apart. In the furrows were 
applied Peruvian guano, salt and plaster at the rate of 200 
lbs. of each per acre. The seed corn, soaked in a solution 
of niter and rolled in plaster, was dropped ten inches apart 
in tlie rows, and covered with rakes ; after which the land 
was rolled. The corn was up in five days from planting, and 
as soon as it was sufficiently large, a long narrow plow was 
run round it, followed by the hoe. The corn was kept clean 
by shallow, level culture till it began to shoot and tassel ; the 
field was then irrigated by conveying from a reservoir, gently 
flowmg water through every alternate row. The yield on 
two acres was 147 bushels per acre. The following year the 
experiment was repeated in like manner, except that the 
rows were laid off two and one-half feet apart. One acre 
yielded 20033 bushels, as attested by a viewing committee. 

Mr. Parker attributed much to irrigation in the above re- 
sults. His conclusion from these and previous experiments 
v/as, that successful maize growing depends greatly on deep 
fall and winter plowing; underdraining of moist land, fol- 
lowed by judicious manuring ; deep early and shallow late 
working ; the roots not being disturbed after the corn begins 
to tassel. 

{s.) — Sufficient examples have been adduced to show the 
importance of selecting for a corn field a sod of several years 
standing, and in most cases of plowing it deeply ; and if the 
subsoil is stiff clay, or otherwise impervious to moisture, ex- 
cept in the case of rock bottom, of treating it with the sub- 
soil plow; of applying, in the case of land long cultivated, a 
liberal coat of barn-yard manure, either on the sod before 
plowing, say in the fall or winter; or on the plowed land in 
spring, and harrowing it in well; of furrowing out so as not 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 309 

to disturb the sod, from three to four feet apart in hills accord- 
ing to the height of the stalks and the fertility of the soil, in 
the middle and northern States, and wider apartfor the largest 
varieties at the south, or in drills distant apart according to a 
similar rule, with an average of one foot apart in the drills; 
of planting in average seasons from the ist to the 25th of May 
in the northern, middle and western States, and earlier going 
south; of leaving but four stalks in the hill at most, and gen- 
erally but two or three ; of beginning the process of culti- 
vation as soon as the corn is fairly out of the ground, with 
harrow, cultivator, or double shovel plow, assisted with hoes 
if necessary to effect a perfect weeding at the start ; of apply- 
ing ashes or plaster in small quantities to old lands in the 
neighborhood of the young plants ; of plowing deeply close to 
the rows only when the corn is quite young and the roots are 
not widely extended, being careful in all cases to disturb the 
sod as little as possible, consistent with thorough pulverization 
of the soil ; of leaving but short intervals between the several 
stirrings until the stalk is about four feet high ; and of watch- 
ing the earing time, to remove all ears affected with smut as 
fast as they appear. 

(/.) — In looking over the above list of large crops to the 
acre it will be seen that they have been raised mostly on 
lands which have been for a considerable time under culti- 
vation ; some on bottoms, some on uplands ; some on clayey, 
some on sandy and gravelly tracts ; some on peat soils, and 
some on reclauned swamps. 

The heaviest crops were raised either on a sod of long 
standing, in the most favorable location for growth, and deeply 
plowed ; or they received an abundant manuring. 

As little has been said in these statements on the proper 
depth of planting the seed, we extract from the U. S. Agri- 
cultural Report, 1868, the result of experiments by a Penn- 
sylvania farmer who planted corn with a pointed stick at 



SIO IXDIAX CORN AND ITS CTJXTOKE. 

depths of one, one and a half, two inches &c., up to six 
inches. The grains planted at one inch came up in eight and 
three-quarter days. Those at one and one-half inches came 
up in nine and one-quarter days. Those at depths from two 
to five inches came up in periods ranging from ten to eighteen 
days, proportional to the depth of the seed. Of those at five 
and one-half inches, only ten grains came up. Those at six 
inches did not make their appearance at all. Of those at five 
inches only forty-two grains attained a height of six to eight 
inches. Those planted at the depth of four and one-half 
inches, produced no ears of full size. Those atone and one- 
half inches produced the best corn. Those at one and two 
inches gave sound ears, but inferior to those just mentioned. 
He concludes that the proper depth for planting corn is from 
one and one-half to two inches. This mny stand as a gen- 
eral rule, but it cannot make an "absolute guide, in view of 
the conditions of diverse soils." 



CHAPTER Xni. 

FERTILIZERS SECTION I. 

Substances which promote the growth of the maize plant, 
applied by human skill or industry, are called either fertilizers 
or manures. The former from its derivation seems the most 
comprehensive term. Some of nature's fertilizers are more 
essential. Solar light is necessary to the action of the leaves 
in the decomposition of carbonic acid; carbon being retained 
for the upbuilding of the plant, and oxygen returned to its 
great reservoir. Solar heat is one of the most important aids 
of growth from germination to ripening. The atmosphere 
is a great fertilizer, supplying not only carbonic acid but 
oxygen, which the plant takes up at night, while it gives 



INDIAN CORN ANB ITS CULTURE. Sll 

out carbonic acid, and also such combinations of nitrogen as 
ammonia and nitric acid, formed, it may be by electricity, or 
taken up by evaporation. 

(i?.) The atmosphere is a great laboratory for vapor, visiting 
the plants with dew or rain ; it also acts as the receiver and 
transporter of sundry volatile matters held in suspension, in- 
cluding particles of solid bodies, besides immense numbeis 
of minute living creatures on the wing. That electricity is 
also a fertilizing agency may be inferred from some experi- 
ments detailed in U. S. P. O., 1844, although the profita- 
bleness of its employment as such is questionable. Enough 
has already been stated herein to show that water in motion 
is one of the greatest fertilizers, and in some cases its natural 
action has been a grand substitute for all the fertilizers of ari. 
Water answers nearly all the purposes of a manure, it forms 
from -^j to I of the maize grain, and an increasingly large 
proportion of the stalk, going back to its first appearance 
above ground. It is a carrier to the maize plant of its food, 
from higher levels and especially from the clouds. It also 
distributes the plant food through the soil, making it accessi- 
ble to the roots ; but this is dependent on the finely divided 
condition of the soil, as produced by cultivation. But in 
percolating through the soil it tends to open it up ; it holds 
the food of the plant in solution, and thus fits it for easy and 
rapid absorption of fertilizing elements. On the other hand 
it may be supposed that water leaches away from a soil its 
more soluble substances. But this may be to a grea.t extent 
prevented by deep and thorough cultivation. A sponge open- 
ing freely holds a great deal of water, which is forced out by 
compression. So if the soil is kept open and spongy, it retains 
all the water it needs. This soaks through a deeply stirred soil, 
which takes from it, as it passes, the needed fertilizing mat- 
ters it has in solution, but from a shallow plowed soil havii g 
much of a slope, it runs off, making channels of its own, and 



312 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

carries with it portions of the soil in suspension. Masses of 
water, to aid plant growth, must be in motion ; stagnant water 
chills the plant and hinders growth. 

{b ) The word manure from the Latin matins, a hand, seems 
the better term for substances applied in aid of plant growth 
by the hand of man. Other fertilizers, including water, may 
operate directly on the plant without the intervention of the 
soil. Manures properly speaking are applied to the soil. 

Some thirty years ago experiments were made by which a 
substitute for the manuring of the soil was supposed to be 
found in the soaking of the seed with special manures. Tes- 
timonies to remarkable results from the process were quite 
abundant in certain quarters. Stalks of Indian Corn were 
made to produce four or five ears, and some eight or nine 
ears. It was claimed that enveloping the seed with the man- 
ure was a better security against leaching and waste, than the 
application of it to the soil. The stimulus given to the growth 
of the seed by imbuing it with manurial substance, has 
been generally acknowledged and frequently taken advan- 
tage of, especially by those whose crops are endangered by 
early and late frosts, as in the more northerly latitudes; by 
those whose planting has been delayed by a wet spring, mak- 
ing timely plowing inadmissible; and by others to insure an 
early and rapid growth as a protection against worm destroy- 
ers. It is probable that the rapid development of the stem 
and roots enables them sooner and more effectually to ex- 
tract fertilizing gases from the atmosphere, and to take up 
manurial substances from the soil ; that is if the tillage is 
deep and thorough. 

But after the first year or two, there is risk of a light grain 
crop from heavy stalks, unless the soil is too fertile to need 
manuring. To make the crop reasonably certain in soil crop- 
ped for a long time, the spreading of fresh manure, or putting 
that well rotted in the hill, is usually necessary to satisfy the 



IHDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 813 

appetite of the plant stimulated by soaking the seeds. The 
ability of the soil to take up and retain all the plant needs of 
its proper food contained in the manure or otherwise absorb- 
ed, is dependent on the soil being in good condition. 

{c) The uses of manure are to feed the plant, or assist 
its digestion, or to present the food to the roots in a soluble 
form, or put the soil in the mechanical condition required for 
absorbing and retaining fertilizing substances, or for correct- 
ing its injurious acidities or other faults. Some manures 
answer nearly all these purposes. 

(d) Manures have been classed as organic and inorganic. 
Organic manures may be of vegetable or animal origin. The 
inorganic substances having existed before the organic, may 
be first considered. In the order of material creation, lifeless 
forms are older than living ones. As to all manures, it is 
highly important, in order that the soil may get the full bene- 
fit of them, that as fast as wanted they should be finely di- 
vided, or in a soluble state. To make combinations or mix- 
tures complete, atom should meet atom; it is the office of 
some manures, however, to promote this. But as the manu- 
rial properties are not all in demand by the plant at once, and 
some varieties of maize and other plants are longer growing 
than others, the most soluble manures should be applied to 
those of quickest growth, and -vice-versa. 

(<?.) Inorganic manures are mostly the results of the disin- 
tegration of the rocks on the earth's surface, more or less 
combined with the elements of the atmosphere, or its floating 
gases and water. Most of them have been alluded to on page 
12 herein, and in the respective inorganic analyses; the six 
leading acids, (combinations of oxygen, with the simple ba- 
ses, carbon, phosphorus, nitrogen, sulphur, silica and chlorine), 
being the carbonic, phosphoric, nitric, sulphuric, silicic and 
chloric acids which form salts with the metallic earths, lime, 
magnesia, poUsb, soda, silica, alumina and iron. Then there 
27 



314 INDIAN COKN AND ITS CULTURE. 

are oxides of iron and manganese; iron, having the protoxide 
(with the lowest proportion of oxygen), considered hurtful 
to plant growth, and the peroxide with a higl er propor- 
tion useful to plants. Ammonia, (nitrogen and hydrogen) 
sometimes called a salt, forms salts with carbonic and sul- 
I)huric acid; the latter having the strongest affinity for it, dis- 
] (laces the former from the carbonate of ammonia, (which 
usually descends with the rain, and is easily volatilized), and 
forms the permanent but soluble salt, sulphate of ammonia. 
(/) Lime, and compounds, form a very large proportion of 
the inorganic manures in use, and are called calcareous ma- 
nures. In the maize grain its quantity is smaller than in the 
stalk, but it is most useful for other purposes than plant food ; 
as quicklime it is extensively applied to clay lands to make 
them more porous, and to sandy soils, to make them more co- 
herent ; to soils over-stocked with crude vegetable matter to 
decompose it rapidly; to sour lands, to neutralize the acids, 
and to soils rich in organic matters to produce nitric acid, 
which forms with various bases the rich manures called 
nitrates. In England from 15010 300 bushels are applied to 
an acre at a time, but less at shorter intervals on light than on 
heavy soils, which with abundant barn yard manure, receive 
the largest amount. It soon becomes slack in that moist cli- 
mate, forming "Ocv^ hydrate, and erelong, by taking up carbonic 
acid, becomes a carbonate or mild lime, which is slower in 
its operations, but beneficial to soils, and much more suitable 
for plant food. 

In the United States where the sun is hotter, not more than 
half the above amount is usually applied. The limestone 
from which it is burned at a high heat, is very abundant in 
parts of the Allegany region, and it has been widely used in 
the middle States, and considerably in New England. Eighty 
bushels to the acre are spoken of as a fair allowance for san- 
dy land, 100 bushels for loam and 150 for clay. This sup- 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURK. 315 

poses the presence in the soil of sufficient organic matter; 
200 bushels are sometimes appHed when this is very abund- 
ant; where it is scant, or the soil is light, a much less quantity 
is allowed. In Dauphin Co. Pa., in 185 1, it was said that 100 
bushels to the acre, repeated every eight years was the pro- 
per quantity for limestone slate, gravel and clay loam ; on 
red shale and sand, 50 bushels every 4 years. A Mifflin Co. 
Pa. correspondent of U. S. P. O. speaks of it as more bene- 
ficial than any other agent in making the texture of the 
soil crumbling and permeable to water. On good limestone 
soil its favorable effects were not so apparent, but it changed 
tlie spontaneous weeds from blue grass and sorrel, to the 
Lamb's quarter, mallows and Spanish needles peculiar to rich 
gardens. Applied with a view to its double operation on soil, 
100 to 200 bushels should be allowed; in combination with 
manure, double the highest quantities might be advantageous. 
Others recommend applying to poor lands often and in small 
quantities. 

To ascertain if a soil needs lime, it has been recommended 
to put a small quantity of soil in a tumbler, and pour on it 
first a little water, then a good deal of spirits of salts or mu- 
riatic acid ; if it effervesces strongly, lime is not needed, if 
not, liming or marling may be useful. 

After several applications of quicklime, the sour insoluble 
humus being exhausted, it was found better to apply it in a 
milder form; gay by throwing it into heaps of 20 or 30 bush- 
els, and leaving it two months in summer, and four or five 
in winter, till it became a mild carbonate. It was then ready 
as food for the plant, and as a medium through which it could 
obtain carbonic acid, which the lime reabsorbed as fast as 
it was furnished to the plant. In Pennsylvania, lime is fre- 
quently spread on corn ground in a slaked state after it is 
plowed, and before furrowing out for planting. It is also 
frequently put on ground with stable manure, when preparing 



C16 INDIAN CORN AND 1T3 CULTURE. 

for wheat ; some place it on the sod. Lime enables mixed 
earths to convert nitrogen of putrefying and decaying ani- 
mal and vegetable substances, into nitric acid, with which it 
forms a nitrate. It is said that plants develop faster in soil 
manured with it, so that they complete the period from ger- 
mination to maturity sooner than on unlimed ground. 

Caibonate of lime is less active, but answers an important 
I)urpose when finely divided, whether by crushing, or by 
burning and slaking, and then leaving the lime a long 
time exposed to the weather. The chief materials containing 
lime are limestone, marble, chalk, marl, stalactites, stalag- 
mites, shells and calcareous spar. Several writers speak of 
the porosity given to clay lands, by the addition of lime, as 
occasioned by the lime when it has again taken up carbonic 
acid, which was burned out of it. Carbonate of lime is 
insoluble in pure water. Its elements are, carbonic acid, 
43 7, Lime, 56.3. 

(g.) The bi-carbonate, containing two proportions of car- 
bonic acid, is soluble in water. When water contains carbonic 
acid gas, it has the power of dissolving the carbonate of lime 
sufficiently to form the bi-carbonate. This salt parts easily 
with its second proportion of acid, when long exposed to air, 
or heated over a fire. Stalactites in caves, petrifactions in 
lakes and streams, some beds of marl, drains choked with 
lime, and crusts at the bottom of kettles and steam-boilers 
are thus accounted for. 

Limestone may be mixed with silica, alumina, magnesia, 
oxide of iron, a trace of the phosphates, potash and soda, 
and often with animal or vegetable remains. The best 
limestone has but 5 pr ct. of these ; some specimens burned 
have not lime enough to slake with water. Quicklime is the 
residuum when higli heat applied in kilns drives ofi the 
carbonic acid. A bushel of lime weighs from 75 to 100 lbs. 
and should be bought by weight. As to construction of kilns 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 317 

and the process of burning and slaking, see U. S P. O., 1856, 
p. 204 to 210. The slaked lime made by pouring on water is 
the hydrate of lime, a chemical compound ; 3 lbs. of pure 
lime taking up a pound of water. Uniform slaking, with 
which too much or too little water interferes, makes the finest 
powder. Rich limes watered, kept from the air, slake fast 
with heat enough to kindle gunpowder strewn on them, 
and gain in bulk 2 to 2,% times. Too much water supplied, 
or too fast, may chill the lime to a gritty powder, full of ob- 
stinate lumps. It is best for land in the finest powder, which 
is obtained by leaving it on the field in winter, covered with 
sods till completely fallen, or ready for application to crops. 

Limestone is extensively diffused throughout the United 
States; the older calcareous formations of the Atlantic States 
cover a wide belt nearly coinciding with the Allegany chain. 

All the New England States have more or less ; New 
York is very rich in limestone, New Jersey in green sand, 
Pennsylvania and Virginia in limestones and marls. Lime- 
stones more or less pure abound in Ohio, Michigan, Ken- 
tucky, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, and other Western and 
South-Western States. The connection of the limestone for- 
mations of the Mississippi Valley, with such successive geo- 
logical formations as the Lower Silurian and others are fully 
set forth in the U. S. Agricultural report of 1869. 

(See Danas' Mineralogy and Geology.) 

Chalk, a carbonate of lime, is abundant in England and 
other countries ; and is so soft that it has been extensive- 
ly applied to land without burning. It makes gravelly soil 
tenacious and close, and clay soils porous, and sands firm. 
For this 400 to 1,000 bushels are applied. (Jhalks contain- 
ing more clay are required in smaller quantities. For coarse, 
sour, earthy pasture, 150 to 250 bushels to an acre [)ro(lnce a 
sweet and delicate herbage, and it rids land of sorrel. Lime, 
as stimulus, is best in large doses at wide intervals — once 



318 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

i'"^ 5> 6) 7 ye3.rs according to nature of land. As manure it 
is best in small quantities applied frequently and composted 
wiih earth, clay and other matters. Most varieties of sub- 
soil strata make good compounds with lime. Except to new 
land, it is much the safest applying lime mixed with earth, 
sand, clay, turf or vegetable mould. As quick-lime sets free 
the ammonia from guano and fermenting manures, it should 
be applied a little before or after the application of these, or 
on the surface, so as to prevent their admixture. Lime that 
has become mild from exposure to air on or under the surface 
hurts no manure. Burned oyster shells aired a few hours, to 
slake, are the best lime for the land. 300 bushels of lime to an 
acre will cover the surface jYo^o of an inch deep; 100 bushels 
looo '■> 9° bushels j oJo > ^° bushels .027 ; 70 bushels .024; 60 
bushels .021 ; 50 bushels .017 ; 40 bushels .014 ; 30 bushels 
.010; 20 bushels .007. Crude limestone crushed, is applied 
with effects slower, but more lasting than quick-lime ; but is 
not an active solvent, or absorber, nor so finely powdered as 
the hydrate, or chalk. The fine powder made by slaking 
burned lime, is more equally diffused in the soil, combines 
quicker with the acids, and touches more nearly the roots of 
grass, straw, leaves, &c ; promoting their decomposition. 

Beds of impure limestone for the manufacture of cements 
and hydraulic mortar, when burned and ground to powder, 
cannot be applied so as to improve land like the purer lime- 
stones as they harden to stone by combining with the water 
or moisture of the soil. Limestone countries often in hollows 
and hillsides, exhibit banks, and heaps of sand and gravel, 
containing rounded particles of limestone, called limestone 
sand and gravel; being carried down by water from decaying 
limestones and other rocks. These greatly improve boggy 
land. 

{h ) Chloride of Calcium: common salt and slaked lime be- 
ing mixed, the salt is decomposed, the soda becomes caustic, 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 819 

and the lime a chloride of calcium, containing 6^ -^^^ pr ct. 
of chlorine gas, very deliquescent, bitter in taste, and dissolv- 
ing in one fourth its weight of water at 60° F. Chalk or 
quicklime dissolved in muriatic acid produces the same. It 
is found in the sea water, the refuse of salt pans, and the 
waste of bleacheries; improves vegetable growth. It may 
be more convenient to use common salt, 100 to 300 lbs to 
acre, with slaked lime say three times those quantities. The 
salt may be dissolved in water, and thrown on the lime. It is 
a great help to maize, if spread on land mixed with leached 
ashes, charcoal, saw-dust or gypsum. 

(/.) C/i/or/de, or Oxy muriate of Lime, when dry, is pale and 
greyish white; a good article has 25 to 30 per ct. by weight 
of chlorine gas. It is a hydrate of lime mechanically mixed 
with chlorine. Its partial solution in water evolves chlorine; 
the freed lime becoming an insoluble carbonate in the bot' 
torn of the vessel. Kept in a dark place, or exposed, when 
dry, to heat, it loses its chlorine. It is not known as a neces- 
sity of plants; but some suppose it to operate like gypsum 
in fixing ammonia, and aiding the germination of seeds. 
Much of it has been thrown away in the refuse of bleacheries. 

(y.) Gas lime is the refuse of gas works, Some analyses 
by Prof. Johnston show in 100 parts, from 56 to 69 carbonate 
of lime ; from zVj^ to 29^^ gypsum ; from 2^^ to 14-1^0 sul- 
phite and hyposulphite of lime ; (the latter being soluble 'n\ 
water) from 9^^ to 12 -^-^ water and coal tar ; and small quan- 
tities of caustic hydrate of lime, prussian blue, alumina, oxide 
of iron, sulphur, insoluble matter, and sulphuret of calcium. 
There is some risk in applying it to growing crops, unless 
the components are well understood ; but having very little 
caustic lime, it may safely be mixed at once with barn-yard 
manure, but not in too large quantities. Mixed with guano, 
it would tend to fix the ammonia; exposed to open air it 
gradually absorbs carbonic acid from the atmosphere ; most 
slowly in damp situations- 



320 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

{-('.) Nitrate of Lime, (lime 34.46, nitric acid 65.54), is a 
result of chalk or limestone dissolved in nitric acid; is often 
produced naturally in compost heaps to which hme has been 
added; is found in rocks and in the soil; effloresces on the 
j)laster of old walls, and is abundant in the mammoth cave 
of Kentucky. It is very soluble in water and deliquescent, 
decomposed by fixed alkalies; with potash forming saltpetre, 
and with soda cubic nitre; is contained in hard water, which, 
according to Dr. Home, is much more promotive of plant 
growth, than soft water. 

(/.) Oxalate of Lime, (oxalic acid and calcareous matter) 
is a white powder, very insoluble in water, but soluble in 
muriatic and nitric acids, is hardly plant food ; may be de- 
composed by sulphuric acid, forming gypsum and oxalates of 
magnesia, and other salts, which are soluble and highly 
favorable to vegetation, when not superacidulated. 

(7;/.) Phosphates of Lime are the results of variable propor- 
tions of phosphoric acid combined with lime, of which, the 
most abundant and the most useful in agriculture, are the 
earthy parts of bones, and the native phosphorite. They are 
less abundant in corals, oyster shells, and shells of other fish ; 
in the teeth, horns, nails, hair and other parts of animals, and 
in the horny wings and covering of numerous insect tribes. 
The phosphate of lime is a minute part of nearly all lime- 
stones and marls, and most fertile soils; it is found in the 
stalk and grain of maize. 

The bi-phosphate of lime isiorxned from burnt bones, pow- 
dered and dissolved in sulphuric acid, diluted with once or 
twice its weight of water ; the remainder of the lime form- 
ing gypsum with sulphuric acid. Tt has 28^ in 100 parts of 
lime, and 71^ phosphoric acid. Liquid manures from the 
urine of animals contain it. One of the best liquid manures 
for grain crops is the above superphosphate, mixed with 
gypsum and largely diluted with water. Pearl-ash added to 



IN'DIAV CORN AND ITS CITLTURH. 321 

the solution till it begins to turn milky, will produce a mix- 
ture of the phosphates with the sulphates of lime and potash ; 
if soda added, the phosphates with the sulphates of lime ;aid 
soda, both being improvements on the bi-phosphate. Simply- 
adding potash and soda to the solution of bones in sulphuric 
acid, and drying it up with charcoal powder, a vegetable 
mould, Avill make a good top dressing for hand sowing or 
drilling in. 

Bone earth: the ash of bones contains 51^^ parts of lime, 
to 48^ phosphoric acid. 

Apatite, or phosphorite, in masses and veins abounds 
throughout the world, and when pure has 54^2 parts of lime, 
and 45% phosphoric acid. Dr. Daubeny from a bed in 
Spain six or seven feet thick, of unknown depth, one en- 
tire white, radiating, silky mass, obtained samples nearly as 
fertilizing for grass and turnips, as bone manure ; and inferred 
that the rich manure of bone was chiefly due to the phos- 
phate, and not to the oil or gelatin. Phosphorite has been 
mined in the United States, at Crown Point, near Lake 
Champlain, and in Morris and Sussex counties, New Jersey. 
It may be ground and spread on old grass lands, or dissolved 
in diluted sulphuric acid, for grain crops, i.ooo to 1,200 lbs. 
per acre. It mixes with the rocks where it occurs ; and must 
be analyzed to find how much acid will dissolve it. Car- 
bonic acid water i gal. dissolves 30 grains of bone earth, driv- 
ing off part of the phosphoric acid, and combining with what 
lime separates from it, and the phosphoric acid combines with 
the other portion of the phosphate of lime, making a super- 
phosphate soluble in water, and a carbonate of lime found 
among its sediment The phosphorite of Morris Co., New 
Jersey, is first' ground, then heated with sulphuric acid, to 
produce the superphosphate, then mixed with wood ashes and 
thrown into the compost heap, or otherwise distributed on 
the land. In some cases the pulverized mineral has by it- 
self been mixed with the compost. 



322 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

Wherever vegetable matter decays in the soil, the water 
carries to the roots of the maize plant, carbonic acid, with 
common carbonate of lime, and some of the needful phos- 
phorite dissolved in it. 

(«.) Silicates of lime: the glassy salt or mixture of two or 
more silicates from silicious sand, mixed with quicklime — 
abounds in granite, trap and other rocks — is found in the ash 
and probably in the leaves and stems of plants. The moist- 
ure and carbonic acid of the atmosphere, slowly decompose 
these silicates, freeing the silica and forming carbonate of 
lime. Rain and dew, full of carbonic acid, dissolve the car- 
bonate of lime, arid some of the silica, and diffuse or carry 
them to lower levels. Soils on decayed trap, or on masses of 
a wholly rotten rock, owe much of their acknowledged rich- 
ness to this long drawn out liming process. Around iron 
furnaces, the first slag obtained, which accumulates greatly, 
is largely silicate, which may be laid on boggy or peaty land 
in large quantities, giving by their slow decomposition to 
growing crops, a long lease of lime and silica, and to soil, 
solidity and firmness. 

(^.) Gypsum: sulphate of lime, (water 21, lime 33, sul- 
phuric acid 46; calcined, lime 41^^^, sulphuric acid S^/2), is 
white and crystalline; deprived of water at low red heat, forms 
Plaster of Paris, which, made into paste, with water, unites 
chemically with it, and in a few minutes forms a hard sub- 
stance used for casts, &c. A ton of pure gypsum crushed 
yields about twenty-five bushels. It is found in nature as 
selenite and alabaster, and almost free from water, as anhy- 
drite; is seen in peat, and is an element of lucerne, sanfoin, 
ray grass, red clover and turnips, aijd in the excrement of 
most, if not all grazing animals. It is often found in springs. 
Plaster was used in agriculture by the ancient Romans, Bri- 
tons and Lombards ; but not much in modern times till after 
its discovery as a manure by a German clergyman in 1768. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 323 

Its use gradually spread in Germany, France, Great Britain, 
Switzerland and the United States. Dr. Franklin sowed in 
large letters, in a clover field in Washington City, in pow- 
dered gypsum, the words, '• this has been plastered." Near 
Philadelphia and elsewhere it has been successfully used ever 
since 1772. E. A. Kendall's travels (1807) mention it as 
very highly prized, as restoring vigor to exhausted soils, and 
making up for inferior husbandry in the farming district be- 
tween Litchfield County, Connecticut, and the Hudson River. 
It was imported from Nova Scotia, and sold for ten dollars 
per ton on Hudson River, but has since been found near 
Niagara Falls, near Cayuga Lake, at Martha's vineyard, and 
other places in New York, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, &c. 

Gypsum is thought to extract ammonia from the atmos- 
phere, and retain it for the use of plants, and to fix in the 
soil, this and other soluble essentials to plant growth. This 
fixing of ammonia is also thought to take place when gypsum 
(plaster) is scattered over stable floors, dung heaps, and 
manure tanks; sulphate of ammonia, and carbonate of lime 
being formed by its sulphuric acid uniting with the ammonia, 
and the lime with the carbonic acid of the volatile carbonate 
of ammonia. This last comes down also with rain water 
from the clouds, and when it fails to meet gypsum in the soil, 
is quickly volatilized. The sulphuric acid of the gypsum 
decomposes and stimulates the humus and insoluble matter 
in loams or peaty soils, and this humus is needed in the soil to 
make gypsum an effective fertilizer. Too much humic acid 
will combine with the lime of the gypsum, forming hu- 
mate of lime, and the freed sulphuric acid may corrode the 
maize roots. There may be an excess of gypsum in a soil 
very rich in humus; but in proper quantities it makes the 
delicate and juicy leaves better absorbents from the atmos- 
})here. Powdered raw, it does not swell in water. Heated 
first below redness, and wet with its bulk of water, it hardens 



324 I.\DIA\ CORX AND ITS CULTURE. 

in five or ten minutes; another dose of water, and when 
beginning to harden, a third dose given, and so on five or 
six times, and the mixture grows weaker; then divided into 
clods and left to air, it is easily powdered fine. The plaster 
has now more surface to water, and is more soluble for the 
roots of plants. The particles acquire five or six times their 
original bulk from repeated additions of water. Over-roast- 
ing prevents this thorough expansion. It is y-, stronger for 
expelling the water. When aired it takes up chemically as 
much water as it lost by burning, without being weakened as 
a manure. Its solubility enables it to enter plants entire. 
Strewn over young growing crops, it stimulates the leaves most 
when the dew is still on them. For clover, it is best strewn 
over the field before winter and harrowed in with the seed; 
being thus more evenly exposed to the action of the roots. 
It is in wet, warm seasons, that the water carries it to the 
maize roots, and the leaves will only de-oxidize the sulphuric 
acid when aided by the sun's rays. Gypsum will not always 
succeed unless applied discreetly and alternately with other 
manures. In America its use helps Indian Corn, buckwheat 
and rye, and most on light, dry and sandy soils. It is said 
to want considerable moisture to make it active. It has proved 
beneficial to chalky and limestone soils, especially soon after 
marling. It fails when vegetable matter is exhausted, and 
should not be too often repeated on the same soil, especially 
it very rich. Most soils require a change in manures as well as 
crops once in five or six years. Maize at planting, or at 
first or second hoeings, is best plastered in the evening or 
morning on dew, or in calm and cloudy weather just before 
or after a slight rain ; very rainy weather lessening or destroy- 
ing its effect. It has been applied in fall and winter, so that 
the rains of the season might dissolve it. Some writers say, 
apply five or six bushels per acre to corn, but the correspond- 
ents of the U. S. P. O. from 1849 to 1853 give variouij 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



amounts, from one to two bushels, and from five to one hun- 
dred lbs. per acre as the usual application. They speak of 
beds of plaster in Onondaga and Ontario Counties, New 
York, and of others at Sandusky Bay, and Grand Rapids; 
Onondaga and Sandusky plasters were considered nearly 
pure sulphate of lime, . The price in Hillsdale County Michi- 
gan, in 1851, was Sio to $12 per ton ; at Adrian, $6 per ton. 
Plaster was used more or less in the New England States, 
New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, 
North Carolina, Mississippi, Michigan and Ohio, and gener- 
ally with great advantage. Some correspondents from New 
Hampshire and Vermont were exceptional in stating that in 
some cases it Avas of little benefit. Several spoke of it as 
beneficial on all soils, others that it was mainly useful on slaty 
hillsides, and dry sandy soils, and those resting on felspar and 
hornblende, and on soils suited to clover and winter grain. 
It was so suited to red clover, that like man and wife, they 
were not to be divorced. Some thought that previous liming 
neutralized the plaster, and that the lime found sulphuric acid 
m the soil and formed gypsum. 

On corn land it was often used with ashes in the hills at 
planting, the corn being dropped on the mixture; but much 
oftener a handful at the first hoeing, soon after the corn was 
up, or half a spoonful, some say a table-spoonful of plaster 
alone, or if put in the hill with barn-yard manure, a gill. It 
has been mixed with guano, 133 lbs. per acre, to plaster -g'^- 
of a ton. Plaster entered into various composts with lime, 
ashes, muck and barn-yard manure, which were successfully 
applied to corn land. Seed corn was frequently rolled in 
plaster, with or without previous tarring to hasten its growth. 
The sprinkling of plaster once a month during winter on the 
manure heaps, increased the crops greatly and gave greater 
action to the manure through the subsequent season. 

As the geology of the United States becomes better known, 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 



new beds of gypsum and other fertilizers will be laid open. 
In U. S. Agricultural report for 1868 is an account of the 
chief beds in West Virginia, including 40 miles along the 
valleys of North Holston and Walker's Creek, between Walk- 
er's and Clinch Mountain. The gypsum is in boulders em- 
bedded in clay ; only a beginning has been made in working 
and transporting it. From analyses it appeared fully equal 
to the Nova Scotia plaster. 

{p.) Marl contains not less than one-fifth its weight of 
carbonate of lime; with less than this it becomes a marly clay 
or soil ; lime mud, more and less pure, is the result of deposits 
in low levels by the latest great floods of the globe. Weather 
beaten rocks containing much lime, when exposed to air, and 
especially to frost, have furnished in a few cases, carbonate 
of lime, which, in the marl thus formed, is sometimes 70 or 
80 per cent. Quicklime, by long exposure becomes a very 
rich marl ; so finally does lime applied to the soil. Marls are 
white, gray, yellow and blue, and differ in coherence and 
composition. 

Clay marls have the appearance of stiff clay, but are pow- 
dered by immersion in water, or long exposure to air. Like 
lime, they prepare the food for the rootlets ; give the plant a 
wide field to feed in; and make the soil an absorbent from 
the atmosphere ; having usually 60 to 80 per cent, of clay, 
and 20 to 32 of calcareous matter, silicious sand, &c. 

Stony fuarls, often more calcareous than clay marls, have 
less power of neutralizing acids and producing salts, and 
require a larger quantity for the same effect. These and clay 
marls make light sandy soils more solid. Sandy marls make 
stiff soils more easy to work. 

Shell jiiarl helps all soils greatly, it drinks water and swells 
like a sponge ; is said to attract acids more strongly than clay 
and stony marls, and to require six times the quantity to satu- 
rate it. It is not exhaustive of the vegetable matter of soils, and 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURK. 327 

may be applied to soils exhausted by lime and the other marls, 

or may be repeated. It dissolves sooner than the other marls 

and operates quicker — is slower than lime, but more lasting. 

Limed land, exhausted by cropping, is not restored by other 

than shell marl, and marled land so conditioned is not re- 

; stored by liming, but may be by a muck composted with 

dung. Marl should be applied to light, barren land, i,ooo or 

I 2,000 bushels per acre; to soils in good condition one-fifth 

/ or one-sixth of this, once in six or seven years. 

((7.) Co7'als are marine polypifers of various colors, with 
stony or horny axes; are mostly carbonate of lime; may be 
shrub like or rounded. 

Coral Sand is of the same nature, and in France has been 
much used in the same way and with the same effects as marl. 
Its saline and animal matters are weakened by long exposure 
to air, and so it is preferred fresh. The Normans compost it 
with farm -yard manure to great advantage. Coral and other 
shells abound in Florida ; the reefs and shoals of the Keys 
of Florida and Bahama Islands are often entire masses of 
broken coral shells and infusoria, and could manure all the 
cultivated land in the United States for thousands of years. 
(T. G. Clemson, U. S. P. O., 1856.) 

(r.) Coprolites are cone-like fossils of ancient calcareous 
formations, and are said to be petrified excrements of extinct 
animals. They are found in Maine, and many limestone 
formations in other States, with other fossils; mostly in layers 
of rocks; sometimes as pebbles, coarse gravel, or more com- 
minuted particles. A sample analyzed by Herepath had of 
phosphate of lime, magnesia and iron, 53 7 ; carbonate of 
lime 28.4; gypsum 0.7; silica 13.2; water 3.4; being about 
as rich in phosphate and carbonate of lime, as recent per- 
fectly dried ox-bones deprived of their fat. Though intensely 
hard, they are readily dissolved by sulphuric acid, into an 
excellent manure. 



328 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

(s.) Magnesia, (protoxide of magnesium), an important 
element of maize, and of the muscles, tissues and fluids of 
most animals, abounding in nature with lime as a carbonate, 
and in soapstone and serpentine as silicates, is a very light, 
white, odorless, tasteless powder, and very insoluble in water. 
Carbonate of Magnesia rarely occurs pure in nature, but is 
precipitated from the sulphate, (Epsom salts) or calcined from 
the impure natural or artificial carbonate. Its properties re- 
semble those of calcined magnesia, Jiaving 51.7 carbonic 
acid, and 48. 3 in 100 of magnesia. One of its chief sources 
is magnesian limestone or dolomite, found in various Euro- 
pean localities and in Canada, in parts of Maine, Vermont, 
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Virginia; 
abounding on the banks of the Hudson, in Niagara and 
Onondp.ga Counties, New York. Among its out-crops in the 
United States were noticed in 1868, specimens from Sullivan 
County, New Hampshire, containing 46 6 per cent, of car- 
bonate of magnesia ; from Addison County, Vermont, with 
44-)^ ; from Worcester, Hampshire and Middlesex Counties, 
Massachusetts with 27 to 43.35; from North-East Rhode 
Island 32.5 to 40.6 ; from Niagara, Dutchess and Westchester 
Counties New York 20.70 to 4589; from five Counties in 
New Jersey 17.4 to 20.3 ; from Newcastle County, Delaware 
46.6 ; and from three Counties in Maryland, with magnesia 
17 to 18 per cent. 

Limestones abound in Pennsylvania and Virginia, some of 
which are magnesian; in Madison and Buncombe Counties, 
North Carolina, are found magnesian limestone. In 1869, 
analyses were published giving Lawrence and Marion 
Counties, Arkansas, limestones with 35.05 to 42.3 per cent, 
carbonate of magnesia ; Pike, Benton and Franklin Coun- 
ties, Missouri, others, with 20.02 to 42.05 ; the Silurian 
limestone, chiefly magnesian, occupying nearly two-thirds of 
the width of Missouri, East and West, reaching the Missis- 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



329 



sippi River in Cape Girardeau County, and extending North- 
ward. Thick beds of dolomites were found in East 
Tennessee ; analyses of Kentucky limestones in fourteen 
Counties gave carbonate of magnesia a percentage from 
15.59 to 45, the highest in Jefferson County; of Illinois mag- 
nesian limestones in nine Counties, 16.08 to 60 per cent; in 
seven Counties of Iowa, from 15.72 to 43.93 per cent. ; in five 
Counties of Wisconsin, from 27 49 to 41.70 ; in nine localities 
of Minnesota, from 13.75 to 42.43 per cent; in six localities 
of Michigan, from 12.21 to 44.39. Magnesian limestones are 
said to abound in the Trenton formation in Pennsylvania, 
and the Trenton lead bearing limestone of Wisconsin and 
other adjoining Western States ; among the Niagara lime- 
stones extending from New York beyond the Mississippi ; and 
among the carboniferous rocks on the sides and tops of sev- 
eral of the Great Western mountain chains, and about the 
head waters of the Missouri, and in the Colorado basin. 

Opinions somewhat contradictory are held as to the injuri- 
ous effects on plants, of the lime containing it, when the mag- 
nesia is in large quantity. Three samples from New York 
State gave on analyses respectively, 27^, 12^^^, and 4 in one 
hundred parts of magnesia ; the last (Onondaga), said to be 
as pure as chalk and most agricultural limestones. Common 
limestone containing carbonate of magnesia, highly heated 
in the open air, loses its carbonic acid ; the carbonate of mag- 
nesia more readily, and at lower temperatures than the car- 
bonate of lime. That is, it sooner becomes caustic ; it slakes 
when water is poured on it, and falls to powder ; the hydrate 
of magnesia swelling with less heat than lime. Burned and 
slaked lime containing magnesia, has two hydrates : the 
magnesian hardening under Avater, and in a wet soil, in about 
eight days, forming a hydraulic cement. 

Though the hydrate of lime will not do this, a mixture of 
the hydrates of lime and magnesia will form a solid mass; 
28 



330 INDIAN CORN' AXD ITS CULTUKE. 

and the particles in wet soil, or during rains, falling first after 
application, will become gritty. The supposed injurious 
effects from caustic magnesia are ascribed to its remaining 
longer caustic, and not uniting with carbonic acid so readily; 
to its forming a harder mortar with water, and so being apt 
to cake about the stems and roots of plants. Mild magnesia, 
where calcareous matter is deficient in the soil, helps vegeta- 
tion, being found in the ash of the maize plant. Some deny 
that the magnesian carbonate is injurious to land at all. It 
is said on the other hand of the various acid substances in 
the soil, both of organic and inorganic origin, which lime 
applied to land makes innoxious by combination with them, 
that they unite rather with the caustic magnesia, and form 
salts, more soluble in water than compounds of lime with the 
same acids ; so that the water carries through the rootlets into 
the circulation, too much magnesia for the health of the plant. 

Limestone rich in magnesia, but not containing it in excess, 
yields the most powerful and lasting fertilizing effects. The 
ashes of various grains give a percentage of magnesia, ii.i, 
against lime, 3.4. In maize and millet, magnesia is to lime, 
as eight is to one. Magnesia is essential to the seed and 
herbaceous structure. Caustic magnesia applied to richly 
manured land, so as to be not over one fifth the animal or 
vegetable remains, soon becomes mild, but on land where a 
portion of quicklime already occupies the surface, the mag- 
nesia remains caustic, and the quicklime grows mild. 

Caustic magnesia destroys woody fibre as quicklime does, 
and with strong peat helps to make manure. If the peat is 
equal to one-fourth the weight of the soil, and the magnesia 
does not exceed one-twentieth, the proportion may be con- 
sidered safe. 

Chloride of Magnesium is the white mass resulting from 
evaporating to dryness a solution of calcined or carbonated 
magnesia in muriatic acid (chlorine 73 65 magnesium 26.35), 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 331 

— is often found in ash of plants. It forms three and a 
half per cent, of the Atlantic water, and twenty-four per 
cent, of the Dead Sea ; abounds in the mother liquor of salt 
pans. It might be applied to the young plant from a water 
cart, dissolved in a large proportion of water. 

Nitrate of jna'gnesia, (nitric acid 72.38, magnesia 27.62,) 
attracts moisture from the air very rapidly, and only wants 
cheapness to be highly beneficial. 

Phosphate pf Magnesia, (phosphoric acid and magnesia), is 
probably in most soils in minute quantities, and helps the 
action of urine and most manures. 

Silicates of Magnesia are components in part of hornblende 
and augite, and in chief of serpentine and talc, and so abound 
in soils they form, but are apt to decompose and the mag- 
nesia to leach away from high ground. 

Sulphate of Magnesia (Epsom salts), a very volatile salt, was 
proved by Sprengel to act on growing plants like gypsum, 
but is too costly to supersede it. 

(/.) (U. S. P. O., i860.) Hydrate of oxide of potassium 
is an impure compound of all the soluble salts leaclied from 
wood ashes and dried. Pearl-ash has fewer impurities. Pure 
or caustic potash is solid, white and fusible, and not decom- 
posable by heat, but is deliquescent, and when exposed to air, 
absorbs its carbonic acid, and Avill effervesce with sulphuric, 
nitric or muriatic acids. It is one of the strongest of the 
the bases, and so caustic as to alter all organic substances it 
touches ; it dissolves many animal substances, and changes 
the nature of vegetable products, especially when aided by 
heat. In nature it is always combined with acids, as the 
carbonic, sulphuric, chlorohydric, nitric, oxalic, tartaric, &:c. 
That from vegetable ash is mixed with divers other salts, 
varying according to the vegetables from which the ashes 
have been procured, the nature of soil and manure used in 
production. The tartrate of potash reduced to ashes, makes 



332 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

the purest caustic potash. Potash is a component of animals, 
plants, and soils that support vegetation, and of such rocks 
as granite, mica, the schists, sienites, lavas and basalts. To 
soils formed from rocks, not containing it, (quartz and many- 
chalks), it must be supplied. 

Silicate of Potash is one of the constituents of feldspar and 
mica, which are constituents of granite. Greertsand is found 
along our Atlantic coast, and largely in Delaware and New 
Jersey, where it is extensively used as a fertilizer, and con- 
tains seven to thirteen percent, of potash. Commercial pot- 
ash comes from the ashes of plants. Ashes have been long 
known as a powerful fertilizer, and much of their power is 
due to the potash contained. 

Nitrate of Potash (saltpetre), has 53.45 nitric acid, and 
46.55 potash; is soluble in water, especially at high tempera- 
tures. Of tried value as a fertilizer, it wants cheapness. It 
is used for soaking grain as a protection against insects. It 
only occurs native as an efflorescence on limestones, marls, 
chalks and rocks, containing lime and potash. For the 
formation of saltpetre, besides the presence of lime, magnesia 
and. potash, a certain degree of humidity is essential. The 
temperature must be favorable; the formation of nitrates 
being very feeble at or about the freezing point; the sunlight 
is unfavorable. Gay Lussac in 1825, published instructions 
as to artificial nitre beds in Paris, to the effect, that all the 
nitrogen necessary for the formation of nitric acid was yielded 
to it by animal matter, and nitrate of potash is never gen- 
erated from the air, in substances adapted to its formation, 
without the co-operation of animal matter. There were 
twenty-two nitre beds in Ceylon — caverns increased by suc- 
cessive extractions of material, Bowles states that there is 
enough nitrate of potash in Spain to supply all Europe to 
the end of time. The action of the salts of potash will be 
shown by the remarks on those of soda. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 333 

(?/.) Sodium and its salts, are like potassium and its salts, 
abounding in nature, and in being always combined with 
some acidifying principle. Sodium is soft and ductile, silver 
gray, waxy, and lighter than water. Soda, (oxide of sodium) 
is the result of quicklime depriving the carbonate of soda of 
its acid. It absorbs greedily the humidity of the atmosphere 
and deliquesces, but exposed to air, absorbs carbonic acid 
and effloresces. 

The Chloride of Sodium, (table salt), gives the ocean its 
bitter flavor. Rock salt is found in all sedimentary rocks 
throughout the world, from the transition to the tertiary ; it 
is supposed to be a deposit from sea water. The atmosphere 
contains all the salts of sea water. Common salt in moderate 
quantities is not only food for the plant, but makes the phos- 
phates and other substances available for nutrition. But 
where rain comes from the ocean saturated with salt, as in 
certain parts of Great Britain, no marked results may follow 
its application. For cereals, two to three hundred weight 
maybe applied to an acre in moist weather, one-half of that 
quantity at first, and the other half a fortnight after. 

Silicate of Soda is found in some varieties of feldspar. Car- 
bonate of Soda, (soda 58.57, carbonic acid 41 43), crystallizes 
from a concentrated solution by cooling, and when exposed 
to air, effervesces. The strongest heat does not decompose 
it, unless in contact with water. In the desert of Thiat, 
in Egypt, a lake fills up during rains with the carbonate and 
sulphate of soda ; the carbonate is separated. Sea weeds con- 
tain soda with vegetable acids. In Spain and France soda 
is obtained from various weeds and cultivated plants, and 
also from the chloride of sodium, (common salt), by evapora- 
tion ; it being first treated with sulphuric acid, and the resulting 
sulphate of soda then heated in contact with carbonic acid 
and charcoal ; the residuum being lixiviated, evaporated and 
crystallized. 



334 13DIAN CORN" A.<D ITS CULTURE, 

Sulphate of Soda named from Glauber, its discoverer, is col- 
orless, bitter and nauseous; an old purgative , is fusible below 
red heat and crystallizes in long six-sided prisms ; exposed to 
air, it parts with its old water of crystallization, effloresces, 
and at last falls into a white powder. It is found in sea water; 
in the Artesian wells at Louisville, Ky., (2,086 feet deep), 
the waters of which abound in various fertilizers ; 330.000 
gallons being thrown up in twenty-four hours, and ejected to 
a height of one hundred and seventy feet above the earth's 
surface. With such wells it seems hardly possible that the 
manurial resources of a country can be exhausted. Sulphate 
of soda is also obtained from certain mineral waters evapo- 
rated and crystallized ; and from the mother liquor from 
which common salt has been extracted. It has 43.82 parts 
of soda and 56.18 sulphuric acid. 

Nitrate of Soda, (nitric acid 63.5, soda 36.5), is contained 
in the cubic peter of Chili, composed of nitrate and chloride 
of soda, sulphate of potash and nitrate of magnesia, formed 
in beds or layers on a dry plain, 3,300 feet above the sea in 
North Chili. The beds are several feet deep and extend forty 
leagues; occurring with sulphate of lime, sulphate and 
chlorohydrate of soda, and recent oceanic shells. It is im- 
perfectly refined, dissolved, evaporated and crystallized; 
packed in bags and sent mule back to the coast. The wood 
used in preparing it is also packed on mules from a distance. 

(z'.) Silicium, pure, owes its mode of preparation, and 
the history and properties of many of its compounds to Ber- 
zelius (1823). It is a part of most known minerals, and is, 
after oxygen, the most abundantly diffused of simple sub- 
stances. Rock crystal is a pure oxide of it; it is found mixed 
with oxide of iron, &c , and combined with various bases. 
When pure, it is a dark brown powder, infusible before the 
blowpipe; its oxide, silica, silicic acid, quartz crystal, is taste- 
less, inodorous, and without action on vegetable colors. All 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



the salts of silicic acid are insoluble ia water, except those 
of potash, soda and lithia. It is a component of the crjs- 
talline rocks round the molten centre of the globe, either 
amorphous, crystalline, or forming salts with various bases. 
It occurs in all the metamorphic rocks ; very abundantly in 
red sandstone ; is found in glass and slags from furnaces, and 
enters widely into sedimentary deposits. Glass and mortars 
are silicates. It is a component of plants in various propor- 
tions; more of grasses than other substances. The epidermis 
of some reeds contains silica, crystallized enough to bhmt 
the edge of a knife in cutting the stalk. The quantity of 
silica in any one plant varies in its different parts, in different 
varieties, and on different soils. Root crops bring up solu- 
ble silica from the deeper parts of the soil, or assist in re- 
ducing crystallized silica to a soluble condition in tlie upper 
parts for the use of corn crops. The greater part of the solu- 
ble silica taken from the soil by a whole course of crops may 
be returned in the leaves or tops of root crops SiHca gives 
mechanical firmness, strength and resistiveness to parts of 
plants most apt to break or fall down; it abounds most 
in the chaff coats of ripened grain; next in the culms; 
after them in the leaves; least in the pulp or farina of seeds 
and flesh of succulent roots. Available silica is so abundant 
in most soils as to make special applications unnecessary. 

The chief soils now requiring direct application of it are 
peat lands, and such as are so overstocked with humus that 
corn culms grown on them are too soft to stand the weather. 
Yet many scientific farmers and some distinguished agricul- 
tural chemists contend that artificial silicates should be 
applied to all soils. See Wilson's Rural Cyclopedia, volume 
IV., page 218. 

(w.) Aluminum resembles tin and silver, but is bluish 
when hammered ; when pure, is unalterable by air or water 
Its oxide alumina is one of the component parts of alum • is 



836 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

the chief constituent of clays, and mixed with other sub- 
stances coloring it, is inodorous, nearly tasteless and some- 
what astringent. It attracts water strongly, and when heated, 
readily gives it off. The more alumina a clay soil has, the 
more tenacity. Sun or wind dried, it hardens, cracks, and 
becomes obdurate ; it is the hardest soil to subdue, but is 
very retentive of manures, and opened to the air, is a great 
absorbent of ammonia. The ashes of plants seldom contain 
alumina, and then sparingly; but it is a help to the soil and 
a purveyor of food to plants. It is seldom or never uncom- 
bined; is generally a silicate, sulphate or phosphate. Alum- 
inous minerals are very extensively diffused. Prof. Voelker 
thinks aluminous earths have the power of absorbing and re- 
taining fertilizing principles so combined, as readily to yield 
them to plants, without being leached away by rains or run- 
ning water. Alkalies and other fertilizers abound in feldspar, 
albite, mica, basalt, clinkstone, claystone and other alumin- 
ous minerals. Clays may be made comparatively porous, dry, 
warm and fertile, by paring and burning, the particles being 
thus partly fused, and made to cohere, and form a gritty 
mass, containing the elements inherent to clay with the 
properties of sand. The application of sand to cure the 
tenacity of clay soil is expensive. Burnt clays have an in- 
creased power of absorbing ammonia, but a great part of 
their retentiveness of moisture is lost. Roots and fibres 
of weeds and all noxious seeds are thus eradicated. The 
alteration of the inert vegetable fibre existing in soils, when 
subjected to this operation, increases productiveness by con- 
verting useless and injurious matter into assimilable plant 
food. Or a product may be thus obtained, having an advan- 
tageous chemical action upon the inorganic constituents of 
the soil. The charcoal resulting from burnt inert vegetable 
matter, has a surprising power of absorbing and condensing 
fertilizing gases. Paring and burning would make poor sandy 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CDLTURE. S37 

soils worse, but improve rough old pastures having a basis of 
clay, infested with moss or noxious insects, or having a thick 
coarse turf that will burn by itself, or with the addition 
of brush, coal, &c. 

(x) Oxides of iron and manganese are abundant in nearly 
all soils, perhaps because plants make very little use of them. 
The protoxide of iron tends strongly towards the peroxide, 
and hence its superior absorption of the oxygen falling in rain. 
Drainage or subsoiling would probably do away with the 
unhealthy effect of the protoxide. Soils containing iron 
compounds, are not bettered by organic or putrid animal 
manures, which take the oxygen from the peroxide. The 
peroxide absorbs and retains ammonia for the use of plants, 
yielding them nitrogen as they want it. Experiments by 
Prince Horstman on oats, to test the necessity of inorganic 
constituents, proved them necessary to the development of 
the plant, and ripening of the seed. Iron being absent and 
all other bases present, the plant was very pale, weak and 
disproportioned ; without manganese, was not perfectly de- 
veloped and bore few flowers. His researches show that 
chlorine is essential to the growth of wheat. That the min- 
eral food, both for vegetables and animals, be ready prepared, 
is essential to animal life. Rocks furnish the soil, and soil 
the inorganic constituents ; if one essential is missing, growth 
fails. 

(_>'.) The ash resulting from the combustion of an organic 
substance in contact with the air, is exclusively the mineral 
portion, varying with the nature of the plant, the port on con- 
sumed, the geological formation and other characteristics of 
the place of its growth. The leaves, branches, trunk and 
roots all differ in ash. Assimilation is most active in the leaves, 
which use more mineral food than any other part. In all 
organic vegetable matters, the mineral portions of the ash 
are differently conditioned from those of the plant. In the 
29 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



latter they are more or less combined witn combustible 
organic acids, which are destroyed in the burning of the 
])lant, leaving the minerals more or less altered, or differently 
combined. Silex, in the plant, minutely divided and soluble, 
becomes insoluble by the effect of heat ; and the alkalies may 
form insoluble compounds with silica, indefinitely inert. 
]<^xcessive heat in combustion may diminish or destroy the 
fertilizing properties of an ash. Charcoal, resulting from 
imperfect combustion, is a condenser of gas, absorbing when 
powdered ninety times its volume of ammonia. Ashes are 
impoverished by lixiviation. The ash of plants yielding 
much phosphoric acid, potash or soda, is more valuable than 
that of plants containing less of them. Soils without organic 
matter are little helped by ashes. 

Peat ashes divide stiff soils. Peat ashes are said to differ 
materially from those of wood, and to have three times their 
manurial value, but this probably depends on the circum- 
stances of the peat formation. If the bogs lie in calcareous 
formations, their ashes have a special value in the salts of 
lime, for top dressing of swards and clover. See analyses in 
U. S. P. O. i860, pages 71-72. A writer in the New England 
Farmer thinks them better for winter than summer grains. 
Charred peats from Holland give English soils a warmer hue ; 
lightens clays and helps them in their absorption of ammonia. 
Sprengel says a good dressing will last five or six years. The 
bottom layer of a peat bed yields the best ashes. Coal ashes 
in some respects have the properties of peat ashes. Coals 
are metalliferous, containing much sulphuret of iron, or 
copper; others abound in various earths. Combustion in 
contact with air, dissipates the sulphur and leaves the oxide 
of iron. Prof. Norton's analysis of anthracite coal, (white 
ash), gives matter insoluble in acids, 88.68, soluble silica, .09, 
alumina 3 36, iron 403, lime 2.1 1, magnesia .19, soda .22, 
potash .16, phosphoric acid. 20, sulphuric acid .86, chlorine .09. 



INDIAN COKN AXD ITS CULTURE. 339 

Berthier found in bituminous coal of St. Etienne (France), 
alumina insoluble in acids, sixty- two parts; do soluble five; 
lime six, magnesia eight, oxide of manganese three, oxide and 
sulphuret of iron sixteen. Coal ashes have long been used 
with night soil, and are of great use around slaughter-houses, 
as absorbents of the blood and liquids, manures of the quick- 
est action. They take the stiffness out of clay, and introduce 
the absorbed nitrogen. More than one-fourth of the one 
hundred and fifteen correspondents of U. S. P. O. from 1849 
to 1853, who speak of fertilizers, refer to the use of ashes, 
either at planting or before the corn is up, or when it gets up, 
or at first hoeing, wilh or without gypsum, or generally as top 
dressing ; unleached is preferred. One refers to the prevalent 
use of coal ashes, two mention potash; a few speak of apply- 
ing ashes to general composts, others protest against its use 
with ammoniacal or barn -yard manures. Of the mineral com- 
posts applied, three are mentioned as one-half plaster and 
one half ashes, one as two parts of ashes to one of lime, one 
of one-third plaster to two-thirds leached ashes, another 
three parts leached ashes to two of slaked lime and one of 
plaster. At planting, a gill to the hill of mixed plaster and 
ashes was sometimes applied. These were mostly in the 
Middle and Eastern States, where the value of ashes for 
manuring maize crops was very generally appreciated. 

At a discussion on mineral manures, referred to in the Re- 
port for 1870 of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, 
Col. Wilder said there was nothing so much wanted as potash 
on old soils of New England that have been long cultivated ; 
he considered ashes at fifty cents per bushel for manure the 
cheapest for any crop. Mr. Thompson of Nantucket said 
that on land so poor that it would not spindle corn, he had 
applied coal ashes two or three inches deep, mixed with a 
little loam; then plowed and harrowed, and in three years 
the land was so much renovated that he cut a ton and a half 
to acre of best clover. 



340 I^'IlIA^• corn and its cultuke. 

(z ) Sulphur is mostly obtained from volcanic regions, 
from sulphurets of iron, copper, &c., or combined with oxygen 
as sulphuric acid, forming with bases sulphates of barytes, 
lime, strontian, &:c. Putrefying organic matter owes part 
of its odor to sulphuretted hydrogen. It is seen on the sur- 
face of stagnant pools, and is deposited by certain mineral 
waters. It is a non-metallic combustible ; its specific gravity 
1.99, melts at 216°, crystallizing as it cools. Is insoluble in 
water, but in special cases makes water milk-white. The 
acid is one of the strongest known. The proportion of sul- 
phur in plants has been shown to be greatest in straw and 
leaves. 

(6^.) PJwspJwrus has been shown to be found where its 
presence was formerly not even suspected. Many of our 
accepted analyses ignore it. "All the requirements of vegeta- 
tion exist in the air and soil ; the want of phosphoric acid 
and ammonia is more imaginary than real ; the former is 
found in all rocks, oceans, water, air and soils, and in ample 
supply for animated nature ; its not having been detected by 
chemical experiment in the air, is not conclusive proof of its 
non-existence ; there are higher evidences than the results 
obtained by chemical reagents and balances ; the omnipres- 
ence of phosphoric acid and the known presence of ammonia 
in the air, water and soil, are natural consequences of 
the order of creation. Chemistry has setded the question 
that phosphorus is a constituent of organic substances; it 
exists uncombined in the brain of animals ; it will not be 
extraordinary, considering the solubility of phosphoric acid, 
if it exists dissolved in atmospheric humidity." Some re- 
marks on the dosage of phosphoric acid are given in U. S. 
P. O. i860, page 78. 

Considering the extent of its uses in the animal and vegeta- 
ble creation, phosphoric acid is probably the most important 
substance in agriculture. Phosphorus is an essential to the life 



IXBIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 341 

of animals and vegetables. It was first discovered by an alche- 
mist of Hamburg, by evaporating urine and calcining the resi- 
duum. Afterwards it was obtained from the bones of animals. 

The simple phosphorus is yellow, tough and wax-like, and 
may be solid, liquid or gaseous. Its luminous character, when 
exposed to air, is due to its burning slowly with oxygen. 
When inflamed in the air, or in oxygen gas, it emits white 
fumes, and collected free from humidity, is white and pulveru- 
lent, and absorbs the humidity of the atmosphere (deliquesces) 
and liquefies. It combines with oxygen in several propor- 
tions ; one forming phosphoric acid contains five atoms of 
oxygen, and one of phosphorus, and forms phosphates with 
lime, magnesia, manganese, iron, &c. That of lime is called 
apatite^ and is found granular, fibrous, compact, friable, or 
crystallized in stalactites. It is colorless, or yellow, blue, 
violet'or green; transparent, translucent, or opaque; is found 
in granite, gneiss, chlorite and talcose slates, in trap and ba- 
salt; in metalliferous deposits with copper, lead, &c.; in coal 
slates and chalk; in tertiary formations, and in sedimentary 
and tufaceous deposits now forming. It is associated wilh 
fluoric acid in mineral, vegetable and animal matters, such 
as the teeth of animals. Though very widely diffused, phos- 
phoric acid is less abundant than silica, lime, magnesia, and 
alumina, except in special deposits. Phosphate of lime is a 
fixed salt, neither soluble nor volatile, and when removed from 
the soil must be replaced by manures. The amount returned 
from the barn-yard is very much less than that carried away 
in grain, hay, milk, bone and flesh, on the most economically 
conducted farms. 

This results from continued cropping, loss of jihosphoric 
acid, faulty culture, and leaching streams. Lands naturally 
irrigated or formed from rich phosphatic rocks, may hold 
their own unaided. England now grows largely by cmigra- 
t'on, and imports of bones, and other fertilizers from Holland, 



342 



INDIAN CORN AND 1T3 CULTURE. 



Germany and South America. In 1842 bones were exported 
largely from Hamburg, Rotterdam, Bremen, Lubeck, Kiel, 
Rostoch, Stettin, Elsinore and Dantzic. In 1837 bones im- 
p )rted into Great Britain were valued at ^254,600, the home 
supply fully ^500,000. Mineral matters, a small item in 
young animals, increase with age. The bones of children 
have more water than those of adults. Muriatic acid dis- 
solves out the mineral part, leaving the gelatin or cartilage 
with the original form of the bone. Glue is thus made. The 
dissolved part consists of phosphates of lime and magnesia, 
fluoride of calcium, carbonate of lime, and a little salt of 
potash and soda. 

The following analyses of bones are from Berzelius : 



Gelatin, (soluble matter) . 

Gelatin, (vessels) 

Pliosphate of lime 

Carbonate of lime 

Snlphateof lime 

Fluoride of calcium 

Phosphate of magnesia.... 
Soda and muriate of soda, 
Sulphate of soda 



Man. 


Ox. 


Pike. 


32 17 ) 
1.13/ 
510-1 
11.30 


83 30 

5.3.4.3 
3.t;5 


-37.36 

55.20 
C.15 


2.00 
1.16 
1.20 


2 90 
2.03 
2.43 


and loss 


1.23 









Whale. 



*78.4G 

14.20 
2.61 
0.83 
0.74 

""2"46 
0.70 



'•Organic matter. 

One hundred parts of Gelatin of bones fermented make 
twenty-two pounds of ammonia, together with carbonic acid. 
Phosphate of lime is soluble in acids, and all phosphates in 
an excess of acid. The phosphate of lime in bones hid in a 
manure or compost heap, is dissolved in the humidity by the 
carbonic acid evolved, and more or less rapidly according to 
the activity of the fermenting mass. It is slower in the large 
bone, than in its powder; in coarse powder than in fine. 
Bones are crushed on a large scale in steam mills. Steaming 
or boiling takes out the gelatin for glue, and the grease for 
soap, after wliich they are easily powdered, but have less 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTUEE, 343 

fertilizing power. Burning the bones destroys the organic 
matters, except a part of the carbon, (animal black). 

Charred bones are a great deodorizer, and antiseptic, and 
condenser of gases. Charring them, in ire n cylinders or other 
air-tight vessels, saves much of the carbon driven off by 
burning in the open air. If the bones are treated with sul- 
phuric acid, without being powdered, insoluble sulphate of 
lime is formed, which surrounds the part of the bone not 
already acted on and prevents the further action of the acid. 
The use of muriatic acid carries the decomposition to com- 
pletion, but the phosphates and muriates will be in solution, 
and less conveniently applied. For other reasons also the 
sulphuric acid is preferred, if not diluted. This added to 
crushed bones, forms a sulphate with part of the lime, and 
the effervescing carbonic acid escapes, and it also frees phos- 
phoric acid from part of its lime, which combines with the 
phosphate not decomposed and forms a super-phosphate. 
Sulphates of potash, soda and magnesia are also formed. 
The result of a well conducted operation is a dry powder; 
the gelatin of the bone becoming more easily assimilated. 
Any farmer can make his own super-phosphate and save the 
risk of buying a humbug. The proper density of the sul- 
phuric acid is about I 85. The finer the powder the more 
acid is required, and the more complete the action. Bones 
burnt in contact with the air are said to yield an average of 
fifty per cent, bone ash, for every one hundred pounds of 
which eighty-seven or eighty-eight pounds sulphuric acid 
will be required. These well mixed in a hogshead with fi\e 
or six gallons of water, with a paddle, will foam up to 212** 
Fahrenheit, or higher. The acid may be added in two ])or- 
tions successively. In handling the acid, care must be taken 
for eyes and clothes, which have sometimes been the forfeit. 

The mass mixed till it stiffens should be covered and left 
for a day, then thrown out in a dry place till ready for pow- 



3-14 IXDIAX COE.V AND ITS CULTURE. 

dering, or mixed with dry peat, charcoal, calcined plaster of 
Paris, dry mould, or saw-dust, and powdered. The work 
may be done on a tight floor, on the ground, or in the field, 
where the powder is used, as well as in a hogshead. A 
Westchester, Pennsylvania farmer got bone dust (1870) in 
the cheapest possible way by putting the bones in fresh horse 
manure. Others have recommended putting a layer of bones 
broken to a convenient size, on a layer of peat, muck or 
mellow soil in a molasses hogshead, covered with four or five 
inches depth of ashes — when the layer of bones is ten 
inches deep, covering with ashes and again with muck and 
soil, with a sprinkling of plaster; the whole mass being now 
and then wet with soap suds. 

The alkali of the ashes is said to dissolve the bones, and 
the muck and plaster will, of course, absorb the gases. Mix- 
ing the freshly pounded bones with carbonate of potash, or 
wood ashes produces carbonate of lime and soluble phos- 
])hate of potash, and after six weeks or two months the mass 
may be used. 

If the commercial super-phosphate of lime is suspected of 
being mixed with old plaster, the hair will be seen ; if Avith 
oyster shells or chalk, the effervescence and particles of shells 
will invite closer scrutiny. Sulphates of barytes and lime 
increase the weight of the mixture. Little is said by the 
correspondents of U. S. P. O., on the use of phosphates of 
lime, during the earlier years of the series. In 1853, from 
Dover, in Delaware, it was stated that the phosphate of lime 
Avas used by a few farmers the previous spring for corn, and 
the result was even better than that from Peruvian Guano. 
From Berkshire County, Massachusetts, it was stated that the 
super phosphate was a new article there, but an establish- 
ment for its manufacture had been got up the season previous, 
and it promised to rank among tlie most effectual fertilizers. 
It was said to be fatal to all insect tribes above and below 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 345 

ground, and to give a cleanly and luxuriant growth, which 
could not be realized from any other manure. A statement 
from Mason, New Hampshire, was that the best effect for 
Indian Corn was found from mixing it with guano in equal 
quantities. About one hundred pounds of each were applied 
to a field of corn in the hill, after a light dressing of animal 
excrements, composted with vegetable matter, had been 
spread and plowed in ; it was a decided success. It was 
also applied broad cast to a piece of ground for Tuscarora 
corn without any other mixture. It appeared very beautiful, 
and where there was a good supply of old vegetable matter in 
the soil, its growth continued exceedingly fine ; but where 
there was little old vegetable matter, the kernel was not well 
filled. Another patch nearly destitute of old vegetable mat- 
ter, but in all other respects well conditioned, was selected 
for the super-phosphate alone. The growing corn had a 
healthy color, the growth of stalks was fair, but the grain was 
not worth harvesting. Not a single well-formed ear could be 
found. The super-phosphate was also applied to a corn field 
planted for fodder; one row was left without any; a light 
manuring of compost had been plowed in; the result in 
weight was as thirteen and a half to one, and in height, four 
to one and a half — in favor of the super-phosphate. A Ver- 
monter during the same season applied it to hills of corn 
before hoeing, with a gain of one-fourth to one-third. 

Various commercial manures under the name of super- 
phosphate of lime, have since from time to time been thrown 
upon the market, some of which have been analyzed. See 
Reports of Chemist for U. S, Agricultural Department, 1866 
and 1S71. In the Department Report for 1871, are ex- 
tracts from the Massachusetts Agricultural Report, contain- 
ing some remarks of Dr. J. R. Nichols on frauds in the 
sale of commercial manures, which are said to be enormous. 
He presents a formula for a compound fertilizer easily pre- 



34G IXDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

pared, which he has found highly valuable. He used bone 
charcoal from the sugar refineries, as a cheap source of phos- 
phoric acid, but says, that burnt bones may be used with 
fully as good results. 

Take nine hundred pounds bone charcoal, four hundred 
and eighty-six pounds oil of vitriol, and one hundred and 
seventy-one pounds of water; mix water with acid and 
gradually add bones, stirring the mass that it may be fully 
acted on. This affords super- phosphate dry enough to be 
ground as soon as cool, and it can be ground in a plaster 
mill. To this add four hundred pounds nitrate of soda, and 
one hundred pounds muriate of potash in powder, and the 
result is a ton of fertilizing matter, giving on analysis 14.39 
parts in one hundred of soluble phosphoric acid, 27.47 parts 
soluble phosphate of lime, 2.8 of potassa, 3.14 of nitrogen. 
Cost of materials at market rates about $44 00. In U. S. 
Agricultural Report, 1868, is an account of experiments by 
Mr. Bartlett, of Warner, New Hampshire, on super-phos- 
phates and other concentrated manures for corn, which 
resulted in a better showing for four of the seven super-phos- 
phates tried than for ashes and bone-dust, hendung, Peruvian 
guano, fish guano, Cuban, Alta Vela, and Baker's Island 
guanos, and very much better than for sulphate of ammonia 
and the French liquid fertilizer. He found that where a fair 
dressing of manure was applied, phosphates sown broad cast 
and applied in the hill, increased the crop and very much 
hastened its ripening. J. W. Clement of Warner, New 
Hampshire, in 1868 applied the super-phosphate to corn in 
the hill, one hundred and fifty pounds to acre, after barn- 
yard manure harrowed in, in spring, on cold, wet heavy land, 
fall plowed, and raised sixty-two bushels of sound corn to 
acre, at a profit of $43 50 per acre. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 347 

SECTION 11. 

Organic manures necessarily include most mineral ones, 
which are plant food. They are either of vegetable or ani- 
mal origin. The former contain more mineral manures than 
the latter. Vegetable manures decompose more slowly than 
those of animal origin, and are more lasting in their effects. 
It has been seen that several of the mineral manures hasten 
the decomposition of vegetable matter ; so does a mixture of 
animal matter. Certain vegetable as well as mineral matters 
are of great value in and out of the soil, as preservers of the 
manurial properties of animal matter. 

Sub-section i. — Manures of vegetable origin: (a) The 
most practicable fertilizer for general use in maize culture, 
throughout the United States, is a green crop plowed in. 
This is meant to include old pasture and worn out meadows, 
or rather bound out, and the natural grass sod as well as the 
cultivated grass, grain and leguminous, and some root crops. 
Quite a variety of plants are used in this way in the old 
and new worlds among grasses; timothy, red top, and the 
various others mixed in meadows and old pastures; among 
forage crops, clover, especially the red, is a very general 
favorite ; and in Europe, sanfoin, lucerne, and the yellow lu- 
pine, and others. Among grain bearing crops, buckwheat is 
probably foremost, then rye, oats and maize sown broadcast; 
of leguminous crops, beans, peas, in the South the cow pea 
especially, and vetches are highly esteemed for this purpose; 
among weeds spurry is said to grow so fast on sandy soil that 
two or three crops can be secured in a season ; and of root 
crops, the turnip is good on all soils, fed out on the land 
or plowed in. Mr. Wolfinger's article in U. S. Agricultural 
Report, 1864, is very full and complete on the subject of 
green manuring. For the maize crop, the mixed grasses and 
other plants, from long mowing or pasturage very densely 



348 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

interwoven with the sod, in clay ground plowed under in the 
fall, and in loamy or sandy soils in the spring, are probably 
the cheapest and best manure, at least of this kind. From 
tables of analysis, V, VI and VII, herein, and in U. S. P. O. 
i860, pages 53 to 65, it will be seen that these plants contain 
all the elements of the maize plant in varying proportions, 
and when decomposed in the soil, abound in food for its 
growth. They afford most plant food plowed in when in 
blossom, and it is then most equally distributed through the 
vessels of the plant, and when turned under will be most 
equally distributed through the soil ; making it spongy and 
receptive, and retentive of moisture and fertilizing gases, 
and especially giving it the power of absorbing ammonia from 
the atmosphere, and perhaps of forming nitric acid. Plants 
with large leaves like maize itself, and a large system of leaves 
like clover, buckwheat, peas and beans, draw largely on the 
atmosphere for ammonia as well as carbonic acid, and these 
go into the soil when turned under. 

The New England Farmer, Volume X, describes three 
fields (in Delaware) worn out by cropping, plowed up in 
1818 and thirty bushels of lime spread to the acre, and two 
bushels of corn sown broadcast. Early in September the 
corn was rolled down with a heavy roller and plowed under, 
harrowed immediately after plowing, and wheat harrowed in 
early in October, and the crop was nearly equal to that from 
the fields prepared with stable manure. In Volume V, (1S27) 
a Long Island farmer recommends for farms in the interior, 
where manure is not easily obtained, the sowing of buck- 
wheat, three bushels to the acre, immediately after the spring 
frosts, and plowing it when in flower; then sowing a second 
time, and plowing in when in flower, and if the season admits 
of it, sowing thick the third time, and the following year 
putting on the most advantageous crop. The result would 
probably depend much on the nature of the soil, and it 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 349 

would be best to ascertain this by experimenting on a small 
scale. A farmer in 1825, is said to have turned in successively 
on the same land, a silicious sandy soil, three green crops, rye, 
oats and buckwheat, and the after crop was very light. In 
U. S. P. O. 1 86 1 Report, the fertilizing qualities of the 
yellow lupine as plowed in, two bushels to the acre in North 
Germany are highly extolled. It grows three or four fett 
high, and is crushed down with a large roller, or by a strong 
broom made of twigs before the plowing in, which is during 
or just after flowering, if sown to grain in fall; but for a spring 
crop (say maize), it is thought best for it to lay over winter 
in the field before plowing in. 

Deep and long-rooted plants like clover and lupine, where 
a deep and originally fertile soil has its surface worn out by 
continual cultivation, bring up fertilizing matters from the 
sub soil. The root of the lupine absorbs rich phosphates 
of iron and ammonia of the soil, more energetically than 
other plants, and dissolves the chemical constituents of min- 
erals, by the evaporation of its root. The lupine commu- 
nicates its oxygen as ozone, forming in the surrounding 
air, ammonia containing nitric acid. Succulent plants like 
clover and buckwheat, make larger veins of carbonaceous 
matter when decomposed. Among the host of testimonies 
to the manurial value of clover, is the following from U. S. 
Agricultural Report, 1870. T. D. T. considers a good clover 
lay worth as much as five cords of common manure to acre. 
To insure a good lay, not less than ten or twelve pounds of 
seed should be sown to acre, on land thoroughly prejiared for 
its reception. Clover not only imparts fertility when plowed 
under, but its roots divide and break the soil while growing, 
and cause it to pulverize as they decay. The thicker the 
plants, thefirmerand better the herbage ; the more numerous 
the roots, the greater the benefit to the soil ; both as to pul- 
verization and fertility. On wet low grounds, or very light, 



350 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

sandy soils, the endeavor to make clover a fertilizer sufficient 
to redeem them and place them in good condition for corn 
or wheat would fail. 

The cow-pea has been the clover of the South. Planted 
early in May among the corn crop, and an extra working 
given, after the corn is laid by, the grass does not overrun it; 
it yields a heavy crop of vines, and is the best fertilizer ap- 
plied to clay lands. In old pastures or meadows bound out 
there is usually so complete a net work of roots, stems and 
leaves of various grasses and weeds, as when turned under, 
to divide up the soil to the best advantage, and fill it with the 
needed fertilizing matter, developing according to the re- 
quirements of the growing corn. Hence the very general 
resort to this preparation for the maize crop. Turned under 
in the fall or winter, it is most thoroughly ready for the young 
plant, and may give it the best start. Turned under in 
spring, it may make the complete filling out of the grain 
more certain. The former is said to be the best for clay soils, 
and for ridding the ground of the cutworm; the latter for 
soils warmer and more easily penetrable. Prairie sod plowed 
shallow at first, is said by some to decompose in better time, 
but most soils are better turned under deep. In new and 
very fertile soils, this system of manuring is usually sufficient 
for full crops and often for the largest ; on older settled or 
long cultivated farms, and especially on up-lands, barn-yard 
manure, plaster, lime or ashes are frequently added. 

(/;.) The stubble and weeds of a small grain crop are 
sometimes turned under very early in the fall, with advan- 
tage, as well as those of a maize sod crop. This gives an 
opportunity, on land comparatively level, for a fall top 
dressing of barn-yard manure. The weeds of a maize crop, 
during after culture, may also help out the manure, and those 
hoed out, if piled in the passage ways and sprinkled with 
quicklime, may swell its bulk to advantage. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 351 

(c.) Waste straw and stalks, spoiled hay or fodder, pea 
and bean vines, potato vines, cabbage leaves, and refuse of 
other plants, forest and other dead leaves, pine shatters, 
rotten wood, refuse chips from the wood house, carpenters' 
and turners' shavings, saw-dust, (hard wood saw-dust is the 
best absorbent), and other vegetable refuse matter should be 
carted in the fall and other spare times to the barn yard or 
hogpens, or sheep pens, or stables for horses and cattle, and 
spread over the floors as a bedding, as well as absorbent of the 
liquids and gases from the droppings of domestic animals. 
In this way they will be of great service in increasing the 
carbonaceous and saving the nitrogenous matters for the soil. 

{d.) Muck or peat \^ formed mainly by the accumulation in 
sunken places, especially in hilly countries, of waste vegeta- 
ble matter, (not taken up in basins and meadows), mixed with 
insoluble earths. The elements vary with the vegetable 
growths in the vicinity; also with the prevailing soil of the 
bog and its surroundings. Rains and streams are the car- 
riers which supply the material. 

When forest leaves, dead brush, weeds and decayed wood 
are the sources, it is mostly carbonaceous. A stream passing 
through the bog is apt to leach away the more soluble fertiliz- 
ing matters, unless there is sufficient humus in the soil to de- 
tain them. If the soil is clayey, or has a clay sub-soil, a 
greater accumulation will be apt to take place. Where there 
is standing water, vegetable acids, such as carbonic, humic, 
crenic and hypocrenic, are often formed, and often combined 
with minerals. The wash of clay beds frequently contains 
iron as bog ore ; and the sulphate of alumina is decomposed, 
setting free the alumina, the basis of clay, while the iron 
combines with the sulphur as sulphuret or pyrites; and it 
may so abound as to injure the fertilizing qualities of peat. 
An abundance of any of these acids in a manurial substance 
makes lime or some other alkali necessary as a corrective. 



332 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

Mixed with quicklime it rises into a light and pulverulent 
mass. The lime also takes away the acids from the iron, 
forming salts of lime, the elements of many plants. Muck, 
with little or no acid, may be used advantageously on sandy 
soils, or such as are deficient in organic matter. It makes a 
very effective compost with barn-yard manure, guano, ashes 
or animal matter. It absorbs the gases evolved from these 
substances when putrefying. It is a good deodorizer and 
diluent of night soil, retaining all its fertilizing qualities and 
making it easily and safely applied. After being dug up in 
autumn, (if practicable in large quantities), muck should 
be exposed to the winter frosts ; for composting with lime or 
ashes, ma)'' be used the following spring ; for composting with 
stable manure or night soil, it should be taken from the heap 
in autumn, after laying a year, to the barn cellar for periodi- 
cal mixing with the droppings of animals, and in sufficient 
quantities for free use as a deodorizer about the premises. 
Good muck may be applied in corn culture, equally mixed 
with barn-yard manure. Carbonaceous manures are largely 
derived from vegetable composts, animal excrement and muck. 
They are mixed and compressed into commercial manures. 
Marsh mud is one of the mucks. A full discussion of the 
value and uses of swamp muck will be found in U. S. P. O. 
1856, pages 182 to 198. 

(e) Charcoal, powdered fine, is nearly pure carbon, and 
one of the best deodorizers of night soil. Peat charcoal is 
highly antiseptic, operates very readily in disinfectmg vaults, 
and absorbs enormous quantities of ammonia and other gases. 
In 1856, it was said only to be made at the North. Wood 
charcoal dust is very effective in the same way, though said 
to be inferior to peat charcoal. Scattered in stables as an 
aijsorbent, it is very useful. DeSaussure found by direct ex- 
periment, that the charcoal from boxwood absorbed in twenty- 
four hours and retained in its pores ninety times its volume 
of amnion iacal gas. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 353 

(/.) Soot has long been highly esteemed as a powerful 
manure. Davy describes it as possessing ammoniacal salt, 
empyreumatic oil and charcoal capable of being made solu- 
ble by oxygen or vital air. It may be sown dry with the 
seed it fertilizes, but goes farther mixed — six quarts of soot 
to a hogshead of water. One hundred pounds of soot are 
said to contain as many valuable manurial elements as a ton 
of cowdung. Common salt combined with soot is a great 
fertilizer. 

(^g.) Seazveed is much used on the Atlantic coast. From 
Barnstable County, Massachusetts, it was reported in 1851, 
that taken from the shore and turned under, it was a most 
valuable manure, but its value was greatly increased by cart- 
ing it into the barn-yard or hog-pen, mixed with mud or 
muck, and leaving it a few months before application. 

(Ji ) Cotton Seed'xs extensively applied to corn fields in the 
Southern United States. A South Carolina correspondent in 
1850, describes it as being dropped in the furrow, on both 
sides of the grains of corn, at planting, and covered with 
one shovel and two small scooters, or harrow. Another, 
vv^riting from Marion county, Mississippi, advises to sow it on 
the land in January, twenty or thirty bushels to acre and 
plow under; thus sown it will be sufficiently decomposed to 
supply the crop as soon as the corn is up; he states that in 
the hill it only gives good crops in fine and uniform seasons. 

(/'.) Spent tanbark has sometimes been used as an absorb- 
ent, but it is probably better as a mulch. 

(/) Tobacco dust, from the alkali contained in it, was, 
at a discussion by the Institute Farmers' Club, in 1869, stated 
to be a good manure, worth to the farmer S20 per ton. 

Sub- SECTION 11. Manures of Animal Origin are a very 
extensive class. 

{a.) Bead animals. Of those floating in the atmosphere 
as insects and birds, which die fast, and help to cover the 
30 



354 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

earth with graves, the number is immense ; but the scaven- 
gers are so abundant, that ordinarily but a small portion of 
them find their way into the manure heap. In well developed 
agricultural regions wild animals are scarce, and are gener- 
ally shot down and consumed as game. Most dead animals 
that help out fertilization are domestic, or at least tame ones. 
Horses and cows, hogs, sheep and chickens, are often drawn 
or thrown out, where their decomposition will be least injuri- 
ous to the health of the community, and the dogs devour 
them because their owners have no use for the manure, into 
which, by proper management, they might be converted, or 
because they want the skill or conveniences for thus disposing 
of them. Sometimes poisonous matter from a dead animal 
proves fatal to the person employed to remove the hide. 
Thick gloves should be worn in the act of handling the car- 
cass, or the hands smeared with something that will prevent 
contagion. If the carcass were cut up in moderately sized 
pieces and buried a foot deep, with a covering of muck, finely 
pulverized clay or garden soil, and these deodorizers mixed 
from time to time with the decomposing mass, there would 
be some probability of converting it into a good fertilizer. 
Among the gases evolved during this process of decomposi- 
tion, are ammonia, and sulphuretted and phosphoretted 
hydrogen. Where muck is obtainable, it has been recom- 
mended to cover the dead animal six inches with it, and let 
it go on decomposing six months or a year, throwing out the 
bones after summer is over, and giving more earth and some 
l)laster to the over-hauled mass, which after another month 
or two may be worked mto corn land with great advantage. 

(p) Certam kinds of fish on the New England and Long 
Island coasts, not valuable for human food, are used fresh ; 
one or two in a hill of Indian Corn, being slightly covered 
with soil and the seeds dropped on it. So fish offal is carted 
inland from Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, and from the 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. C5j 

fisheries on the Potomac, Delaware and other rivers in large 
quantities by the farmers. The New England Farmer for 
June i6, 1826, stated that at River Head, Long Island, nine 
millions of moss bunkers were taken in three weeks for 
manure. Fish deodorized by composting with peat, during 
putrefaction, are capital fertilizers. A writer in Ohio Agri- 
cultural Report 1862. gives an extended account of the fish 
guano manufacture in Northern Europe, and recommends 
the same for the Lake Erie Coast, there being a great abund- 
ance of unsalable fish in that lake. The method of an 
English firm was to place the unsalable fish and offals from 
herring fisheries in a large basin, where it was decomposed 
and reduced to jelly-like substance, by pouring on it sul- 
phuric acid, and then in a centrifugal drying machine de- 
prived of its fat, and completely dried and ground to powder. 
Pulverized charcoal might be added to absorb the manurial 
substances in the watery parts thus removed. Steaming may 
be substituted for the use of sulphuric acid. Experiments 
have been made in Germany with the Norwegian fish guano 
with marked success, and Dr. Vohl in Bonn states, as the 
result of his own analyses, that the bones of fishes are a rich 
source of phosphatic and mineral matters, and their flesh and 
gelatinous tissues are rich in nitrogen. The ammonia is not 
ready furnished in fish guano, but is gradually produced from 
the albuminous and nitrogenous tissues during its putrefaction 
in the soil, and at the same time it loosens up the soil by de- 
veloping carbonic acid. Menhaden fish at certain seasons are 
taken in large quantities, steamed and subjected to strong 
pressure, which forces out the oil, and the residuum, being 
nearly as dry as seasoned wood, is ground and barreled for 
market as poudrette. 

(t .) Blood and other matters as well as night soil are dried 
and deodorized by mixture with absorbents of ammonia, 
phosphoretted hydrogen and other gases and moisture, pow- 



356 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

dered and sold as poudrettes. These are very rich when rightly 
made. Applied in the hills of corn, sprinkled over a surface 
of ten or twelve inches square, and covered deep enough 
for the retention of the gases evolved by their rapid decom- 
position, they give the plant a fine start and early growth, 
warming up cold soils, and making up for backward seasons. 

{d.) The manurial value of bones in connection with the 
phosphates has already been discussed, but ground bones or 
bone dust have another fertilizing element in their gelatin 
and other organic components. Two hundred and sixty 
pounds of bone-dust, less than six bushels, have been said to 
supply phosphates enough for an acre of ground, in crops 
rotating for four years, as turnips, barley, clover and wheat. 
These may be saved also by immersing the bones, till softened 
into a paste, in a mixture of one pint of sulphuric acid with 
two pints of water, and then mixing them with dry muck or 
something that will take up the adhesive particles. Or a strong 
steam box hung on a frame, so as to be easily turned over, 
has a square hole cut through one of its sides, and a cover 
tightly fitted with clamps and a screw ; through this hole the 
bones are crowded, the cover closed and super-heated steam 
admitted for several successive hours. Part of the separated 
gelatin is conducted away to ferment in contact with dry 
muck, and with the addition of some dissolved bone, forms 
avimoniated super-phosphate of lime. From the well soaked 
mass in the steambox, the cover is removed, and the over- 
turned box emptied on the floor; the contents carried by 
machinery, to a steam heated room above, and dried and 
ground. Bones are sometimes decomposed by being thrown 
into a hole with fermenting manure, or decaying dead ani- 
mals from three to six months. They are too valuable to be 
wasted. 

(e ) Waste feathers and hair, waste of hides and scraping*?, 
leather parings, old shoes and rags may all be economized for 



INDIAX COR-\ AND ITS CULTURE. 



357 



manure. Rasped horn is decomposed in the ground without 
further preparation; but more effectively by softening it in 
caustic lyes without raising the temperature, and adding di- 
luted sulphuric acid to neutralize the alkali. Of woolen 
refuse, ten or twelve hundred weight per acre have been 
applied to grain crops on light, chalky soils in England. 

(/.) Excrements cf domestic animals. Those applied t > 
maize crops are chiefly cow, horse, mule, sheep, hog and 
hen manure. The first five are not essentially different from 
those of the rarer domestic animals. Rabbit dung and ex- 
crements of deer, are among the recorded fertilizers of Eng- 
land. Those of the buffalo are a well known article of fuel 
on the Great Western plains, and no doubt do help to fer- 
tilize their grasses. By far the most important sources of 
excrementitious manures are pastures and barn yards of 
farms, and stables and streets of cities. Guano beds are 
more excellent in kind than in quantity. The higher animals 
are fed, the richer is their manure, especially in nitrogenous 
properties. The following table (U. S. Agricultural Report, 
1861), shows the results found by Boussingault as to manures 
voided in twenty-four hours (in grammes): 





Fre.sh. 


Dry Matter. 


Kitrogenous. 


Salts and Ejxrth-s. 




Urine. 

1,330 

*(,200 
30.S0 
1,200 


E.\cr't. 


Urine. 


Excr't 


Urine. 


fcl.xer't. 


Urine. 


Excr't 


Horse 

Cow 

Swine 

Man 


14.2-fl 

28.413 

1,3S0 

150 


302 

9l>0 
<i3 
40 


3..VJ3 

4,000 

20s 

38 


37.8 

30.0 

69 

8.6 


77.6 

92.0 

9.2 

1.3 


1100 

38.4 
31.2 
9.7 


574.« 

4S0.0 

844 

9.0 



It will be seen how large a ])roportion of plant food there 
is in the urine. Though the fresh excrements of the horse, 
cow and swine greatly exceed the urine, the dry matter differs 
less, and the nitrogen still less. 



oOO JXDIAN CORN AXD ITS CULTURE. 

The following from same volume shows the most important 
nutrient elements in the ash of manures: 

1,1. 





Horse. 


Ox. 


Swine. 


Man. 




Urine. 


Exc't 


Urine. 


Exc't 


Urine. 


Exc't 


Urine. 


Exc't 


J.ime 


6.80 
4.78 
30.02 
13.21 
6.94 
.00 

6!oi 


4 03 

11.36 

1.9s 

0.03 

1.40 

62,40 


.67 
3 93 

59.18 
0.98 
0.30 

b;3>. 

6 30 


5.71 

L'.'gi 

0.98 
0.23 
4.20 
62.,i4 


'i'm 

13.00 

53.00 
10.00 

ii'ob 
8. so 


2.03 

'i'.w 

3.44 

89 

4.9.) 

13.19 


1.15 

1.34 
13.64 

1.33 

07.20 

11.21 

.00 

4 06 


'^6 46 




10 tA 


Votash 


6 10 




5 07 


ConiTiion Salt 


4.3;} 




3().03 




0.00 


Sulphuric Acid 

Eartliy Phospliatgs 


3.15 



Dr. Voelcker's researches as to barn-yard manure in Eng- 
land proved, first, that the manure exposed to the weather 
loses the principal part of its assimilable plant food ; second, 
that the washings from it contain a very large part of this 
food. American farmers are liable to greater losses by wash- 
ing, because their rains are more violent, and their buildings 
less skillfully arranged. As barn yard manure has usually 
a large element of waste vegetable material, fennentation, 
either before or after application, is required to make it ready 
for plant food. The composition of street and road manures 
and the sweepings of houses, is the result of a mixture ot 
various substances, and these are usually applied unfernnented ; 
modern roads in and near cities being very generally covered 
with comminuted limestone, which would probably be a 
sufficient solvent, especially when incorporated in the soil. 
Barn yard and pig manures are very extensively used in tl^e 
agriculture of the United States, especially for maize culture. 
The correspondence of the U. S. P. O from 1849 to 1853 
shows how large a part it takes in keeping up the fertility of 
soils, especially in the older agricultural States. They seem to 
have become more of a necessity from the application of 
other manures. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTUBE. 859 

First as to the modes of saving manures from domestic 
animals. The simpler modes of pasturage, especially with 
sheep, and the hogging down system, have been referred to 
herein; also the carting of horse manure from the stables di- 
rect to the field intended for corn to kill the grub-worm. 
Where one has not the better conveniences for saving ma- 
nure, this method has other advantages. Deposited on corn 
ground in large heaps in the fall, and these covered with 
muck or soil, they lose but little of their fertilizing qualities 
during the winter months. la spring early, as soon as the 
frost is out of the ground, and before the heaps get hot, they 
may be overhauled and sprinkled with plaster or other ab- 
sorbent of ammonia. Plowed in just before planting, the 
decomposition will be sooner completed, giving the young 
jjlant more of a start; harrowed in after plowing, the manure 
operates more as an absorbent of ammonia from the atmos- 
phere. Plowed in, in the fall, on clay ground, the winter's 
freezing and thawing would so pulverize the soil, that the 
manure, as it became decomposed, would be too thoroughly 
incorporated with the soil, to suffer much from leaching, even 
on hillsides, if deeply turned ni w^itli a side-hill plow. An 
early planting and rapid working would seem important in 
this case, to realize the full benefit of the manure. Where 
the surface is tolerably level, it might be better to spread long 
manure on plowed ground in the fall, if the soil is somewhat 
porous. Replowed shallow, or harrowed just before planting, 
it might feed the plant better in its later growth. Many farm- 
ers find an advantage in so arranging their buildings, that 
what manure, solid or liquid, is carried off by running water, 
■wiW pass over the fields intended for tillage. These will take 
up most of the fertilizing matters. A broader economy may 
be the result of so excavating the barn or cattle yard, that 
all the liquids may run into it towards one centre, where 
refuse straw, corn stalks, and other vegetable v/aste may be 



3G0 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

deposited to take up the fertilizing liquids and gases, and the 
moisture that softens the woody fibre. After being worked 
up by the feet of the cattle, it may be removed to a pile under 
cover, or carted (plaster or muck being sprinkled as it is 
loaded), to well protected heaps in the field. When the pile 
near the yard is roofed over, a few sheep or hogs may be kept 
on it as it is gradually increased ; it being thus saved from 
overheating or freezing; absorbents being periodically sprink- 
led or spread over it. In the winter it may be sledded out 
to large heaps in the fields, or in spring hauled out to where 
it is wanted. 

But the best arrangement, if it can be afforded, is probably 
the barn cellar. This should be right under the stables, so as 
to catch the fertilizing liquids ; should be of adequate height; 
have a water-tight floor, to be covered five or six inches deep 
with prepared muck or other absorbent ; the walls should be 
of stone or brick well pointed ; it should be sheltered if pos- 
sible from high winds, and be secure from winter freezing. 
The excrements of cattle, mixed with litter, daily strewed 
over the floors, and sprinkled with plaster or other absorbent 
of ammonia, are regularly thrown down, and the liquids find 
their own way there, to keep the mass sufficiently moist for 
gentle fermentation all winter long. It is very important to 
stow away in summer and fall, enough of muck, where it can 
be mixed daily with the fresh dung, for the whole winter. 
To prevent excessive fermentation, the temperature must be 
well regulated. When spring makes all ready for another 
maize crop, the ripe contents of the cellar are hauled out to 
the fields and spread on sod or stubble and plowed in, or on 
the furrow, and harrowed or worked in with the cultivator ; 
the best rotted manure being by many reserved for the hills' 
at planting, a shovel-full, more or less, in each. In some 
places, if the seed is drilled in, the drill furrow is filled with 
manure, which with the seed is covered with a light plow. 



INDIAN CORN AND IT3 CUI.TI7RE. 861 

The quantities applied, as stated by correspondents of U. S. 
P. O. 1849 to 1853, are variously estimated in ox cart or 
wagon loads, say ten to twenty, twenty or thirty, or more; or 
ill cords, six in one instance being equal to twelve loads. In 
a few cases the number of bushels to each load is given. 

Hen manure, properly saved, is one of the most powerful 
in its effects, being a combination of the urine and excre- 
ment of fowls. Like other bird manure it contains uric acid; 
gives out carbonate of ammonia by distillation, and dissolved 
in water, yields soluble matters. It is very apt to ferment. 
The instinct of hens to roost in the same place makes it 
very convenient to save their droppings. Roosting poles 
under cover should be extended for them; and muck, dried 
clay powdered, coal ashes, or garden mould, should from 
time to time be thrown underneath to receive the droppings. 
The mass should be left undisturbed till shortly before it is 
applied, when it should be turned over and well mixed ; or 
if it must be disposed of sooner, the mixed mass may be 
deposited in boxes or barrels. In one case where thirty loads 
of other manure were applied to the acre, the droppings in 
each hill, as much as one could take up in his fingers, of hen 
manure made during the year, caused a gain of sixty per ct, 
for a potato crop. What has been said of hen manure is 
probably applicable to that of domestic fowls generally. 

(<?'•) Pigeon dung has been described by Loudon as very 
much like that of domestic fowls. It should be applied as 
new as possible, and wet or dry, may be used like other 
manures capable of pulverization. The forests loaded with 
the roosts of wood pigeons, doubtless manure heavily the soil 
of their haunts. The droppings abound in ammonia, and 
help to dissolve the waste of leaves. This manure has long 
been highly prized in Persia. 

A farmer raising a number of fowls (1859), found that in 
a single night a pigeon produces seven and one -half grammes, 
31 



362 INDIAN COBN AND ITS CULTURE. 

a chicken fifteen, a duck twenty-two and one-half, a goose 
or turkey, thirty and one-fourth. 

(Ji ) Night soil is the most powerful of our domestic ma- 
nures. This is due to the variety and richness of human food 
and the soluble form in which it is used. It decomposes very 
readily, and its elements vary with the character of the food, 
but it always abounds in compounds of carbon, hydrogen 
and nitrogen, and whether frtoh or fermented, is capital food 
for plants, but not lasting in its effects. In its natural state it 
contains about three-fourths water, with volatile ammonia, 
carbonic acid and sulphuretted and phosphoretted hydrogen 
dissolved in it, which escape by evaporation or otherwise. 
Hence the failures in deodorization and in making poudrette. 
The solid part of night soil, dried so as to retain the gases is 
very fertilizing and stimulating, and, says Boussingault, worth 
ten times its weight of farm-yard manure. The use of night 
soil in China has kept up its population for long ages. Plas- 
ter, muck, copperas, and powdered charcoal have been used 
as deodorizers and absorbents for night soil and urine, but 
the finely powdered clay or dried loamy soil, recommended 
by Rev. Mr. Moule of England, is probably best. The Chi- 
nese were said to use the former of old. Mr. Moule finding 
his vault likely to be a nuisance, buried in the earth the fresh 
night soil from his premises, deposited in small vessels, and 
after a short time found that all traces of it had disappeared. 
This led him to try the effect of mixing the daily deposits of 
the vault with dried earth or powdered clay, kept under 
cover for the purpose, and he found the deodorization com- 
plete. After some time the same material regained its absorb- 
ing without losing its fertilizing power, and could be used 
over again. He proceeded to invent various conveniences 
for the disposition of manure thus provided, which are de- 
scribed in his work published on the subject, and also in U. 
S. Agricultural Reports. Night soil is usually applied in the 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, . 363 

hill with muck, plaster, coal ashes or other diluent. Dried 
and well preserved as poudrette, it was said in 1852 to suc- 
ceed very well on light soils in Windham County, Connecti- 
cut, and was thought cheap at two dollars per barrel. 

The simplest method thus far suggested of composting 
night soil is to drop peat or loam daily on the deposits in the 
vault. Some carry it out in the fall and mix it with other 
manures. 

(i.) Liquid manures abound in fertilizing matters, and are 
very easily applied ; they have long been used in Europe. 
Loudon describes their use by the farmers of German Swit- 
zerland. They are obtained from stalls and stables, and col- 
lected into underground pits or reservoirs, in which they are 
allowed to ferment in a mucous or slimy state. In Zurich the 
floDr on which the cattle are stalled, is formed of boards with 
an inclination of four inches from head to hind part of animal, 
whose excrements fall into a gutter behind, in the manner 
usual in the English cow-houses. This gutter is fifteen inches 
deep, and ten inches wide ; receives at pleasure water from 
a reservoir near it, and empties into pits by holes opened or 
closed. The pits, laid in well cemented masonry, bottomed 
in well beaten clay, are covered with a floor of boards placed 
a little below that on which the animal stands. This cover- 
ing facilitates the fermentation. It should be so that the liquids 
be not disturbed during their four weeks fermentation.. The 
capacity of the pits should be such, that the number of the 
animals the stable holds may fill one pit in a week. The pit 
must be closed at the week's end, whether full or not, so as 
to be emptied systematically by portable pumps. In the 
evening the gutter receives its quantum of water, which in 
the morning is so mixed with the excrement fallen into it, as 
to form an equable and flowing liquid. If this is too thick, 
the fermentation is deficient, if too thin, there will be too 
little nutrient matter. The mixture is allowed to run off into 



364 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

the pit beneath, and water is again let into the trench. Dur- 
ing the day when the keeper enters the stable, he sweeps 
whatever excrement may be found under the cattle into the 
trench, which may be emptied as often as the liquid attains 
a due thickness. Best mixed three-fourths water to one- 
fourth excrement, if the cattle are fed on corn ; if being 
fattened, four-fifths water to one-fifth excrement is sufficient. 

Another method is to sink five tubs or large earthen ves- 
sels in the ground, and let the contents of the portable re- 
ceiver of the water closet, with all the water used for wash- 
ing in the house, soap suds, slops, and fermentable offals of 
every description during a week, be carried and poured into 
one of these tubs — and if not full on Saturday night, let it 
be filled up with water of any kind, well stirred up; the lid 
replaced, and the whole stirred up for a week. Begin on 
Monday morning with another tub, and when after five weeks 
the whole five are filled, empty the first at the roots of the 
growing crops and re-fill. Or use two larger tubs and con- 
tinue filling one for a month, empty the first, and so on. 

Some crops bear the application of human urine better than 
others, and well grown plants, as peas and tomatoes, very 
much better than young ones. Great caution should be used 
in experimenting with such powerful fertilizers. Testimonies 
to their use on the maize crop by correspondents of U. S. P. 
O. are infrequent. For sprinkling pastures, (the eventual 
food of maize crops) liquid manure carts are often employed. 
The possibility of utilizing for manurial purposes, the sewer- 
age of cities, as extremely important to the future of grain 
production, has been much discussed by leading agriculturists 
in Europe. The subject is hedged in with difficulties. These 
have been measurably overcome by the dense population of 
the far East. As it is, vast quantities of these fertilizing mat- 
ters go to fill up the ocean ; and probably vast quantities of 
the most fertilizing gases, are floated back v/ith the evapo- 



INDIAN CORN AND IT9 CULTURE. 365 

rated oceanic waters to the cultivated fields of the old and 
new world. How far contributions from the richness of the 
land help to swell the finny population of the deep, it is of 
course impossible to determine; but fish are fast becoming a 
source of rich fertilizers, and some of the richest commercial 
manures are supplied by birds living wholly on fish. 

The author of the "Advice to Europeans," (for the preser- 
vation of those residing near the sea in hot climates, 1768), 
remarks, "that by a peculiar blessing of Providence, not only 
the river Senegal, but all the great rivers whose sources are 
within the tropics, have deposited by their annual inunda- 
tions, great quantities of slime and mud at their openings 
into the sea; which form what are called the bars to those 
rivers. Those bars, or shoals, consisting of a fine, soft ooze, 
often extend themselves many miles from the land, and afford 
not only a safe anchorage for both the floating factories and 
infirmary ships, but they abound also with an incredible 
quantity of excellent fish ; and one man in the infirmary 
ship, lying off Senegal, or in most other places on the coast 
of Guinea, will be able to catch as many fish of different 
sorts in two hours as will be sufficient for the nourishment of 
a hundred sick people." He adds, (showing the probable 
immense consumption of fish as human food, and the conse- 
quent return of oceanic manures to the land), that, "it hns 
been found by experience that no food whatever contributes 
more to the perfect recovery of health and strength, and to 
the prevention of the fatal consequences of fevers in hot cli- 
mates, than fish, or rich nourishing fish soup, warmed with 
tlie spices of the country, and if necessary, rendered palata- 
ble by the addition of lime juice." 

Guano is a mixture of the excrements of sea birds with 
the remains of some of their dead bodies, generally on deso- 
late islands, suited for their roosting and breeding places, 
and piled up through the long centuries in dry climates. la 



366 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



birds the secretions both of the kidneys and intestines, are 
mixed in the cloaca. They greatly differ in composition ; 
in rainless districts, say at Chinchi, Ilo, Iza and Arica, fifty 
vessels being said in 1839, (the date of Murray's Encyclope- 
dia of Geography), to be laden annually with it at Chinchi, 
carrying from 1,500 to 2,000 cubic feet; the West coast of 
Peru being rich in both the ammoniacal salts and the phos- 
phates. In 1865 its deposits in South and Middle Peru were 
reckoned at more than twenty millions of tons. It is much 
richer in nitrogen than the droppings of birds living on 
vegetable food. The U. S. Agricultural Report for 1865, 
gives from Prof. Norton, the following composition of four 
principal guanos : 





Water. 


Organic matter and 
ammoniacal salts. 


Phosphates. 




5 to 7 

7 to 10 
10 to 13 
IS to 20 


56 to 64 
r.(i to 65 
50 to 56 
30 to 44 


25 to 29 




16 to 23 




22 to 30 


Ichaboe 


21 to 29 



The Ichaboe coming from a moister climate than the West 
coast of South America, contains more water, and is more de- 
composed, giving a stronger smell of ammonia. The Pacific 
guanos however, mixed with a little quicklime and gently 
heated, yield a very pungent odor. Later guanos, discovered 
by Americans, come from the Baker and Jarvis Islands, con- 
taining, according to Liebig, no uric acid, little of nitroge- 
nous substances, potasli, or magnesia, but being more like 
bone dust; Baker'scontainingfully eighty per cent., and Jarvis 
thirty- three of pliosphates, and the latter forty-four per cent, 
of gypsum. They are more soluble than other guanos, and 
tlie farmers can quicken their action by adding twenty to 
twenty five per cent, of their weight of concentrated sul- 
phuric acidj making them super-phosphates. Mexican gua- 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 3G7 

nos have less ammoniacal salt, and more phosphates than the 
Peruvian, makhig plumper grains but less straw. Voelck- 
er's analysis showed one pound of guano, equal to fifty pounds 
of barn -yard manure, and more convenient of application, 
being often put in after planting. Good guano twelve years 
ago would have had a large sale at $40 to $50 per ton. It 
has been adulterated with gypsum and umber. Professor 
Johnston says the drier and lighter colored it is, the better; it 
ought to smell strongly of ammonia, when a spoonful is mixed 
with a spoonful of quicklime in a glass ; and when well stirred 
with water in a tumbler, and the fine matter poured off, should 
leave little sand or stones. The ammoniacal guanos are the 
most immediate, the phosphatic the most permanent aids to 
plant growth. Three hundred or four hundred pounds of pure 
guano are thought to equal fourteen to eighteen loads of com- 
mon manure. A Massachusetts farmer made three hundred 
pounds guano increase the maize crop fifteen bushels per 
acre ; in another instance $53 00 worth of guano yield a profit 
of $77 00, and again, two hundred and fifty pounds sown to 
acre, increase the crop twenty bushels to acre. Guano in 
1S49, though expensive, was fast coming into use for corn in 
Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Eight hundred tons had 
been used in that year in Montgomery County, Maryland. 
In 1850 a Rhode Islander tried it on Indian Corn for soiling; 
the land in good tilth ; on June 6th, thirty loads of barn com- 
post to acre, plowed under and harrowed deep, and on June 
8th furrowed deep for corn drills ; into one portion six loads 
of barn compost were dropped, and two and a half bushels of 
Southern maize to acre, and covered. Over another portion 
he strewed guano compost, (three hundred and twenty pounds 
guano to acre), and covered lightly, and then covered in the 
same quantity of Southern corn to acre. June i6th, the gua- 
noed rows were well up, and the manured rows hardly visible. 
During the whole season the guanoed rows were ahead in ver- 



3G8 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

dure, height and size of stalks. The whole field was blown 
down in July, the guanoed portions most injured, making it 
necessary to cut them prematurely in mid- August. A square 
rod of each of the rows side by side, was weighed green, the 
guanoed, four hundred and fifty pounds, the other, three 
hundred and sixty-five — gain per rod from guano, eighty-five 
pounds. In 1851 the yearly consumption of the Peruvian in 
the United States was fifteen thousand tons, chiefly in the 
Middle States, where it had recovered many worn out farms. 
Correspondents of U. S. P. O. 1851, from Windham County, 
Connecticut, wrote of its use there with the best success, but 
in limited quantities owing to high prices; and in Litchfield 
County, a little was put in the hill at planting or first hoeing; 
in Sussex County, Delaware, three hundred pounds to an acre 
were plowed in six inches deep; another sowed two hundred 
pounds Peruvian and three hundred Patagonian to acre, on 
corn and wheat with much advantage, but with a protest 
against its high price ; in Harford County, Maryland, it was 
applied to corn land generally before flushed, and after plant- 
ing, sown on the furrow and harrowed in either way; three 
hundred pounds to acre doubling the crop ; the average being 
thirty bushels to acre. In Fairfax County, Virginia, it stood 
No. I. though costly, being quick and certain on all crops ; in 
Amherst County, Virginia, two hundred pounds per acre in- 
creased a three barrel maize crop to four or five barrels ; in 
Buckingham County, Virginia, its use was general and favora- 
ble ; applied to corn by dropping into the furrow as much as 
could be taken up with the thumb and two fore-fingers, and 
earth drawn over it with the foot Guano was too costly for 
small farmers. Another correspondent from the same county 
found it unsafe for a summer crop, and in dry weather injurir 
ous. He sowed it down and turned under with a three horse 
plow. In Southampton County, Virginia, guano on corn land 
produced varied results. One of the most successful farmery 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 869 

finding not the slightest benefit from the application of half 
a ton to part of his last maize crop. In Macon County, Ten- 
nessee, it was a success. 

In Europe, according to Loudon, it was long ago applied 
to maize crops in large quantities. In 1851 for general pur- 
poses, Great Britain imported it to the value of ten million 
dollars. In South America it has long been highly prized as 
a fertilizer. It is best applied in damp or showery weather, 
and mixed with five or six times its weight of charcoal, fine 
soil or dried muck; if applied to land just plowed, should be 
immediately mixed with the soil by harrowing or brushing, 
should not be allowed to touch the seed, and should be ap- 
plied with reference to the present crop only, and not to bene- 
fit succeeding crops. Professors Hembstadt and Schubler 
experimented with different manures to ascertain the quantity 
of vegetable substance produced in proportion to the seed,- 
with the following result : No manure, three times; herbage, 
grass, leaves, &c., five; cow dung, seven ; pigeon dung, nine; 
horse dung, ten ; human urine, twelve; sheep's dung, twelve; 
human manure or bullock's blood, fourteen. 

Bai guano is described by the chemist of U. S. Agricul- 
tural Department in the monthly report for May and June, 
1876, as the excrement of the bat, deposited in caves in Vir- 
ginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas, 
of which samples were sent for analysis very similar in 
appearance, except those containing a high proportion of 
insoluble mineral matter. Six of the samples had on analy- 
sis, of organic volatile matters in one hundred parts, respec- 
tively, 46.77, 82.18, 58.439, 47-73. 92-745. and 6.144, wiih 
variable small proportions of sand, clay, alumina and ses- 
qui-oxide of iron, soluble phosphoric acid, lime, magnesia, 
sulphuric acid, chlorine, nitric acid, potassa, soda, soluble 
silica, organic nitrogen and ammonia; and moisture from 
2.59 to 44.33 parts. Their physical condition when air dried 



370 



I2IDIAJJ CORN AND ITS CtlLTURE. 



was excellent, both for handling and for application to the soil. 
They were valued at $15 00 to $55 00 per ton. Saltpetre 
was made from several of these caves during the late war. 

The farmer will find it to his advantage to use all the 
available manurial matter about home before he buys ; espe- 
cially before he buys imported manures. And when he does 
he should buy intelligently. An article in U. S Agricultural 
Report 1 86 1, on the philosophy and chemistry of manures, 
aims to lead him in the right track. We extract a few figures 
giving a general idea of the value of several sources of nu- 
trient elements for plants — sulphate of ammonia has 18 to 20 
per cent, of nitrogen; soda saltpetre 14 to 16; dry blood 
10 to 12 ; horns of cattle 9 to 11 ; leather 6 to 7; hair from 
tanners 5 to 8 ; wool offal 4 to 6. 





Nitrogen. 
Per cent. 


Bone Phosphate. 
Per cent. 




12 to 15 
7 to 8 
4 to 4^2 
2 


20 to 28 




23 to 33 




45 to 50 




50 to CO 







Professor Johnston estimated nitrogen per pound seventeen 
cents, soluble phosphoric acid twelve and a half cents, in- 
soluble phosphoric acid four and a half cents, potash per 
pound four cents. These numbers will give a general idea 
of the value of manures, if we have an analysis of them. 
Thus a manure which in 100 pounds would contain of 



Nitrogen, 

Soluble phosphoric acid, 

Insoluble •■ " - 

Potash 

Sand ... 



2 lbs. would be worth 17x2=34 cts. 

4 " " 12^^x4=50 " 
10 " " 4;^xio=45 " 

8 " " 4x8=32 " 
76 " " 0x76=00 



100 lbs. 



$1 61 



In the absence of analysis, better buy from responsible 
houses of known reputation for honesty. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 371 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE PLOW 

Is one of the earliest inventions. The oxen were plowing 
when the Sabeans fell on Job's servants. Moses forbade the 
tackling together of the ox and ass for plowing. The Israel- 
ite of Samuel's time went down to the land of the Philistines 
to sharpen his coulter. Elisha was plowing with twelve yoke 
of oxen, when Ehjah threw over him his mantle. 

(a) Some suppose the invention of the plow coeval with 
the first raising of grain, say in Egypt. Loudon asserts that 
antiquarians are agreed on the pick as the first form of the 
plow. A medal of the greatest antiquity, dug up at Syracuse, 
contained the impression of a pick, and another relic a pick- 
like plow drawn by two serpents, and the like may be seen 
in various ancient medals and drawings. 

(d.) Hesiod the Grecian agricultural poet, who wrote 
about the tenth century B. C, advises the farmers to have 
two plows, for security against accident ; one having the 
share, beam and plow tail, one piece of timber ; say a young 
limb witli two branches from it proceeding in opposite direc- 
tions; the main limb was used for the pole, the branch at 
least angle was the share, sometimes shod with bronze; the 
other at an obtuse angle stood upright for the plow tail or 
handle. Hesiod's other plow was in three parts ; the share 
of oak, the draft pole and plow tail of elm or bay firmly 
nailed together. Some suppose it the one still used in South- 
ern France, others, the recent plow of Magna Graecia, and 
Sicily, which are old Greek colonies. 

The annexed cut (figure i) represents the recent plow of 
Magna Griecia. See also figure 2. 



872 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 




The holm oak was said to have a natural curvature fitted 
to the making of Hesiod's plow. In Virgil's time a tree was 

forced into the right form. 
Virgil's plow seems to 
have had earth boards or 
t^^^^^i*^ a mold board rising on 

each side, and adjusted 
to the share, and bending 
[Fig. 1.1 outwardly to throw each 

way the soil previously loosened and raised by the share. 
The Roman plow as described by Pliny, had a colter like 
ours, and in his time two wheels were added. Cato had a 
plow for strong soils, and another for light ones; Varro, one 
with two mold boards, to ridge up after sowing the seed. 
The Romans had plows with and without mold-boards; with 
and without wheels; with and without a colter; with broad 
and narrow shares; and plow shares with sharp sides and 
points. 

(c.) To recapitulate, the first plow was a crooked stick of 
sundry shapes, operating like a double mold-board; next the 
plow point was shod with iron ; then a land side was made by 
hewing off CZT — ^^-Oji^ 
one side of 
the stick so 
as to throw 
the earth only 

one way; then [Fig. 2.] 

the plow became a simple wedge, the land side being nearly 
parallel to the plow's motion ; the other side moving the fur- 
row to the right, but leaving the furrow to stand on edge. 
Then the wedge was gradually twisted so as regularly to in- 
vert the furrow. 

(d.) One of the early laws of Wales was that no man 
should undertake to guide a plow until he could make one, 




INDIAN COUtT AND IT3 CULTCRE. 375 

and that the driver should make the ropes with which it was 
drawn, of twisted willows. Societies were formed for mak- 
ing them and proving with oxen. The Norman conquerors 
of England had a wheel plow, with one handle held in one 
of the plowman's hands, the other hand grasping an imple- 
ment for breaking the clods. 

(^.) The Orientals are famous for holding on to their old 
customs. The plow of Hindostan was little better than a 
pointed stick, and was carried on the plowman's shoulder to 
the field like a spade. It scratched sandy uplands or river 
mud tolerably, but on the strong lands of Bengal, only a {g\V 
of Its scratches could now and then be seen, the ground be- 
ing plowed from five to fifteen times, till mould enough was 
raised to cover the seeds. In Ceylon, Indian corn was cul- 
tivated in low flat swamps, admitting of being flooded with 
water. Some of the Chinese plows were drawn by women, 
others by a singla ox or buffalo. The driver of the plow of 
Erzeroum stood on the share to press down its wedge, and was 
carried along with it. The plow of the Morea had a share 
like the claw of an anchor, the edges being armed with iron j 
it sometimes had two wheels; it was drawn by one horse, two 
asses, or by oxen and buffaloes, according to the soil. A 
traveler in Poland saw a plow drawn by a cow, she being 
tied by her horns to the trunk of a young fir tree, one of the 
roots sharpened for a share, another used for a handle; the 
driver being his own plow-maker. The corn plow of Castile 
in Spain, which was sup- 
posed to be as old as the 
times of the Romans, was 
described by Townsend as 
having a beam about three 
feet long, curved and ta- [Fig.s.] 

pered at one end, to receive an additional beam of about 
five feet, fastened to it with three iron collars; the other end 




874 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTl'RE, 

of the three foot beam touching the ground, and having a 
mortice to receive the share, handle and wedge. 

(/.) The Greek and Roman plows seem to have held their 
own in Europe with little change, till the Dutch and Flemish 
began to improve them in the sixteenth century. The Eng- 
lish made further improvements in the seventeenth century. 
I'he author of a "Tour to Killarney," in Ireland mentions a 
place where the plow was unknown, till the clergyman intro- 
duced it, when immense crowds flocked down from the 
neighboring mountains to see its operation, which struck 
them with wonder, but when the people were reminded that 
their fore fathers were diggers of the soil, they shunned the 
sight of the new instrument, and unanimously resolved to 
stick to the ancestral spade. 

{g.) The Scotch-plow, so called, was considered in Lou- 
don's time the best invented for general use. There were 
two kinds particularly recommended, the wheel-plow, best 
for ordinary plowmen, as being more steady; and the swing 
plow, lighter in draft but requiring a more attentive and ex- 
perienced plowman. Certain general principles were laid 
down for English plovi^s, whatever might be the form used. 
The part entering, perforating and breaking up the ground 
received a long, narrow, tapering, sharpened form, which 
affords the least resistance in passing through the land, and 
the mold board, that hollowed and twisted form, which not 
only tends to lessen friction, but also greatly tends to perfect 
the turning over of the furrow slice. The beam and muzzle 
were to be so constructed that the moving power of the team 
should be attached in the most advantageous line of draft, 
especially if the team weTe double or treble. The true prin- 
ciples of plow making were said to be mathematically stated 
in several works, and very fully in the Quarterly Journal of 
Agriculture for February, 1829. Loudon says the line of 
draft should be at right angles to the horses' shoulders, that 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 375 

the bar or land side should be made a perfect plane, and run 
l)arallel to the line of draft, and that where this deviates 
more than two inches from parallelism to the line of draft it 
throws the plow to the left, and causes the hinder part of the 
mold board to press hard against the furrow, crushing it and 
making the draft harder for the team. A colter standing 
more oblique than 45°, makes the plow choke up with stub- 
ble and grass roots, by throwing them up against the beam, 
and if less oblique, is apt to increase the draft by pushing the 
stones and obstacles before it. The mold-board may be 
more concave in light soils, nearer a plane surface in firm 
ones. 

The best forms have the lower edge of the mold board in 
a separate piece, called the bearing piece, which when worn, 
can be replaced. The plow handles and beam are generally 
of wood, the other parts of wrought or cast iron, or steel, as 
the case may be. In England the recent high price of timber, 
and cheapness of iron have led to its general substitution for 
wood in plow making. Iron beams and handles are becom- 
ing more common in America. The English plows are gen- 
erally much longer than the American, and mostly provided 
with two wheels. An extended comparison of their respec- 
tive merits will be found in U. S. P. O., 1856. 

(h) Some of the American plows, about the year 1800, 
were very rude, hardly two alike ; the wooden mold board 
was covered with old shoes, horse shoes and thin straps of 
iron, nailed on to prevent its wearing out. The landside 
was wood with the bottom covered with iron ; the share of 
iron with hardened steel point; the beam a straight stick, and 
the handles cut from the branches of a •tree. President Jeffer- 
son was one of the first improvers of the plow in America. 
He and Small discovered the importance of straight lines run- 
ning from the sole to the top of the share and mold-board. 
He showed how plows could be made alike; the two wedges, 



870 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CUtTURB. 

working vertically and laterally, so blended in a curve as that 
the furrow should rise and turn over smoothly and continu- 
ously. Chas. Newbold's plow, (cast iron), was patented in 
1797 ; John Denver's in 1804; Col. Pickering discovered the 
importance of a straight line running from front to rear of the 
plow. Among the various patentees from 1807 to 181 7 was 
Jethro Wood, who discovered that all the lines running from 
front to rear should be straight; said to be the first to cast the 
plow in sections, so as that the parts most worn could be re- 
placed. After x8i8, there was a great multiplication of in- 
ventors in this line. The Hingham self-holding plow (Massa- 
chusetts), was patented about 1823; also David Hitchcock's, 
which was highly recommended by J. Mears in the Nev/ Eng- 
land Farmer, (1830), for its pulverizing and other qualities. 
The wooden plows with wrought iron share and colter, were, 
said to be unlike in the mold-boards from the same maker ; 
their constant swelling and shrinking loosened the joints so 
that the plow was weak and varying in its running, apt to 
cl(-g and load up with earth, and paid too many visits to the 
blacksmith shop. 

Many of the wrought iron plows worked well, but there 
was no certainty of their being alike ; they were apt to work 
loose at the junction of share and mold-board, and about the 
bolts passing through their thin plates, and were inclined to 
crowd off, rather than raise and turn over the furrow slice. 
The wrought iron plow, with steel spring mold board, was 
very similar to the last, but if well made, was thought to 
bear rough usage among rocks, stumps, &c., remarkably well. 
John Mears pointed out the practical means of obtaining a 
centre draft by the inclination of the land side inwards. In 
I S3 1, B. Thatcher of Massachusetts introduced a movable 
beam to the plow, adjustable vertically for regulating the 
depth of the furrow, and horizontally for giving it more or 
less width. 




INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 377 

Figure four represents an old fashioned plow, from the 
shape of its mold-board, and want of a colter, less fitted 
fur sod than stubble 
plowing; but its beam 
end, fitted low down in 
the handle, gives the 
plowman a stouter grasp 
on its movement, and 
the high curve of the [Fig 

beam where it joins the standard, saves it from clogging. It 
would be more easily managed than many recent plows in 
stony or stumpy ground. 

Mr. Knox showed how to lay down all the lines of the plow 
on a plane surface. Gov. Holbrook has been credited with 
a method of making convex or concave plows of any size 
symmetrical, so as to completely pulverize the soil. Aaron 
Smith made two plows work together, one throwing two or 
three inches of the surface into the bottom of the preceding 
furrow, and the other covering it with the lower earth. The 
Michigan double plow does this by means of two plows fixed 
under the beam, the smaller one most forward. Mr. Dunlap 
of Illinois, says no plow pulverizes soil so thoroughly as this. 
Gill's Columbus double plow, (1855), by its small one, first 
removes the roots of the grass, and by its large one pulveri- 
zes and throws over the under soil ; harrowing being thus 
made unnecessary. 

(/) The side hill plow, (the English turnwrest, miking 
the furrows on slopes horizontal, by turning them all down 
hill), was introduced many years ago in the United States. 
Mr. Bateham in Ohio Agricultural Report for 1849, describes 
it as operated by the plowman unhooking the hind end of 
the mold-board and letting it fall over on the ground, and 
then bringing it under and up on the opposite side, which is 
done easily and quickly. The mold-boards had been im- 



378 INDIAN COEN AND ITS CULTURE. 

proved and lengthened during the previous two years, so that 
level land was plowed with it nearly or quite as well as with 
the common plow ; much time being saved by turning short 
about, and no dead or finishing furrows being left. Mr. Bate- 
ham adds, that on rich bottom lands and other mucky soils 
inclining to clay, the common cast iron plow was a failure ; 
the soil adhering to the mold-board so as to prevent good 
work and making the draft hard ; the best plows for these 
soils being of steel, or wrought iron case hardened and so 
highly polished as to keep bright. The Eagle and Centre 
draft plows Avere most approved in New York and New Eng- 
land ; the different parts of the plow being so arranged as to 
place the centre of resistance exactly in the line of draft; 
the same result being sought in the use of the centre draft 
rod under the beam; those with the patent dial clevis and 
gage wheel were especially useful in sward plowing ; of easier 
draft, running deeper and steadier, and turning a better fur- 
row than ordinary plows. 

Figure five with its stout standard well set in the curve of 
the beam, its broad cutting knife and wheel to gage the fur- 
rows, and its mold-board 
receding in the rear, re- 
sembles the centre draft 
plow. The Pittsburg iron 
centre, (Hall & Spear's), 
[Fig b^ took the first premium at 

the Ohio State Fair in 1852; the beam and handles of 
wrought iron; the mold board and land side of cast iron in 
one piece, the share and cutter also; it was made left handed 
as well as right handed. U. S. Agricultural Report for 1862 
shows that steel plows were taking the place of iron ones; a 
saving of one day in every four was the supposed result. 
The importance of the law of virtual velocities (what is 
gained in power is lost in time or distance), and of the law 




INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 



379 




of momentum, in connection with machinery, was adverted 
to. The Report for 1863 states that gang plows were heavy 
and liable to clog. A recent one (see Ohio Agricultural Re- 
port for 187 1), is claimed to run two plows, a chain regula- 
ting the depth of the furrow ; to save this from hard pan the 
lifting force is kept off the furrow by wheels and chain; a 
lever keeps the plows level at any depth of furrow; common 
plows in use can be attached to it ; it has a seat for the dri- 
ver, (boy, old man or cripple). 

In 1S63, the old 
standing colter was giv- 
ing way to the wheel 
colter, cutting a smooth 
furrow. Cast steel plows 
were eminently fitted 
for prairie plowing. 

Dunlap's weed-hook [Fig. 6.] 

was described as a bent iron bar, two inches by three-eighths 
of an inch, so attached to the middle of plow beam, that the 
outer end runs in the open furrow, and draws in even the 
largest green weeds and corn-stalks, so that they are covered 
out of sight by the upturning furrow. The steel clipper plow, 
with highly polished steel mold-board and German steel 
share, was highly recommended for prairie work. 

(k.) A New Yorker in the Report for 1866, mentions 
Hutchinson's improvement — the standard an extension of the 
landside — as preventing the clogging by large stubble; the 
Swivel plow, (Ames Plow Company, Boston and New York), 
the old side -hill plow improved ; the cast cast-steel with cir- 
cular colter, the entire mold-board, landside and share being 
of cast-steel: Kilmer's for plowing in green crops, aided by 
a chain attached to the whiffle tree and middle of beam, 
swinging against the mold-board ; a smiller chain fastened 
to the handles holding it in position : the Cylinder plow, 



3S0 INDIAN CORN AND Il'S CULTURE. 

its mold-board curve fitting a perfect cylinder*; Mead's con- 
ical plow, the concavity of its mold -board coinciding with 
the surface of a cone, with its large end to the front, secur- 
ing an easy separation of the furrow slice ; the Left hand plow 
turning the furrow to the left, preferred in some parts of 
Pennsylvania, and used to some extent in South-Eastern 
Oliio; and Gilbert's combined surface and subsoil plow, 
the subsoiler being attachable to any common plow. The 
Report for 1871 noticed an improvement on the rotary circu- 
lar mold-board, mounted on a journal in its centre, so that as 
the sod passes over its face, the mold-board revolves on its 
bearing; the purpose being to lessen friction. 

(/.) The subsoil plow does not turn over the soil, but stirs 
it, operating in a furrow made by the surface plow. It is 
intended to give the plant the benefit of a well tilled under 
soil, without exposing it, in its infancy, to the influence of 
barren or unwholesome substances. All subsoil plows, for 
easy movement, require a comparatively thin but strong 
standard, or its equivalent, with a wedge at the bottom. One 
pattern, for free soils, has the wedge thin, which when worn, 
can be replaced by a similar one in the rear. A stouter ap- 
paratus is required for stony or stiff clay subsoils. One kind 
has a rod under the beam, and two standards, with a broad 
flattish pointed wedge secured to them beneath; another 
three or four smaller standards; another a standard of cast 
iron plate, one inch thick, with a sort of flange or shelf on 
one side for pulverizing and raising hard subsoil, and a 
sli.ire-like wedge so strong that it cannot break. J. L. Gill's 
has a narrower standard, forked at top, at the fastenings to 
the beam, and a kind of vertical brace behind, with a stout 
and share-like wedge. Subsoilers that merely stir or displace 
the soil, have the lightest draft, some that raise it require two 

■■■Joshua Gibbs of Canton, O., worked out a pattern according to a 
similar principle. 



ISDIAX CORN AXD ITS CULTURE, 3S1 

or three yoke of oxen. The Mapes subsoiler has been highly- 
spoken of. 

(w.) Patents for new plows or parts of plows are con- 
stantly on the increase, very many of which, for various 
reasons, whatever their merits, never go into extensive use. 
A rough count from abstracts taken from United States pub- 
lished documents, for less than three years from January 3d, 
1872, shows of plow patents not otherwise classed, one hun- 
dred and fifty-four; wheel plows, thirty-four; gang plows, 
thirty; sulky plows, eleven; subsoil, eight; shovel and ro- 
tary plows, four each ; steam plows, three; corn, ditching and 
cultivating plows, two each; side-hill, prairie, reversible, 
double, winged, riding, walking, double furrow and subsoil 
gang plows, one each; dynamometers, two; clevises, e:ght ; 
whiffle trees, eight ; shares and cutters, three each ; wheels, 
beams, standards, cleaners, mold-boards and plow points, two 
each; plow carriage and runner, one each, stalk and stubble 
cutting attachment, one or more. 

It is stated in a recent U. S. Agricultural Report, that the 
applications for improvements chiefly have respect to the 
mold-board, landside, standard, brace, colter and clevis; 
but more lately for fenders used to bend weeds and other 
trash away from the mold-board, to be turned over by tlie 
plow. In 1869, most of the improvements on wheel plows 
were from California and Oregon. 

(«.) Sidehill plows have been recently patented, placing 
the right hand and left hand back to back, the beam and han 
dies being swung around at the end of the furrow so as to 
make each alternately do duty. Another kind has one plow 
on top of and another under the beam, which are mverted 
at the end of each furrow. 

An analysis of the first premiums for plows awarded at 
the Ohio State Fairs from 1852 to 1874 as detailed in the 
Reports of tliat State, shows that twenty-eight were awarded 



382 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

to persons or firms representing Springfield, Ohio, of which 
nearly all were awarded since 1859; about as many to Cin- 
cinnati, awarded up to i860; the awards now referred to 
being for specific plows, including plows for general purposes, 
sod, stubble, sidehill, sub-soil, one-horse, double, double- 
shovel, cast iron, steel and mole plows; and plows for black 
muck, clay and light sandy soils; to Cleveland and Colum- 
bus each less than half, and to Dayton, Canton and Mau- 
mee City Ohio, and Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, each less than 
one fourth of Springfield's number; and to the following 
cities or villages fewer awards down to one, viz>: Delaware, 
Ohio, Richmond, (Indiana), Four Corners, (Huron County, 
Ohio,) Moline, (Illinois), Enon, (Clarke County, Ohio,) 
Hamilton, North Fairfield, (Huron County), Troy, Ohio, 
Peru, Indiana; and the following other places in Ohio, 
Sidney, Toledo, Bucyrus, Xenia, Yellow Springs, Lithopolis, 
Zanesville, Malta, Salem, Alliance, Akron, Alpha, (Greene 
County), Bryan, (Williams County), Monclova, (Lucas 
County), Willoughby, (Lake County), New Paris, (Preble 
County), and Monroeville ; and Rochester in Pennsylva- 
nia, and Whiteford in Michigan, &c. Plows from vari- 
ous places also received second premiums or commenda- 
tion. 

The Report of the Committee on Plows at Ohio Fair, in 
1872, required cf plows competing at ti'ials, a furrow thirteen 
inches wide, and seven deep ; for sod plows, those were pre- 
ferred which turned the sod without breaking, evenly and so 
far over as to hide all grass or other green stuff, and thus pre- 
vent its growth interfering with the tillage crop, and at the 
same time crushed the soil turned up and lying below the 
grass roots so as to make the best seed bed. Those were 
pronounced best for stubble, which most nearly covered all 
the litter, so that it would not interfere with tillage; a good 
seed bed being provided. Lightness of draft tested by the 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 383 

dynamometer, good material and workmanship, durability, 
and fair prices were also considered in awarding the pre- 
miums. Among the plows described in Ohio Agricultural 
Reports, is that of J. Ball & Co., Canton, Ohio, 1870; the 
beam being the basis of all attachments; the wearing parts, 
mold-board, share and landside, have steel and cast metal 
duplicates, admitting of change from general purpose to 
stubble plows, and vice ve?-sa. 

The Heiser sod plow, (1871), has a rotary cutter and a 
rear mold-board of a shape to save friction. The Aughe 
plow, (Dayton, 187 1), for sod, &c. , is said to be especially 
fitted for bottom land. Trials by the dynamometer in 1862, 
showed a Springfield plow cutting eight inches deep by thir- 
teen wide, with colter, as drawing four hundred and thirty- 
eight and one half pounds; a Cleveland double, eight by 
fifteen inches, seven hundred and seven and a half pounds ; 
single plow without colter, eight by twelve and a half inches, 
four hundred and forty-four and three-fourths pounds ; a 
Salem subsoiler, twelve by twelve inches, seven hundred and 
thirty-seven and three-fourths pounds. 

((?.) At the opening of the Centennial Exposition, at 
Philadelphia in 1876, there was a good show of English 
plows, and one of the points observed was the long mold- 
board with the rear lower edge curved in, suggesting a 
diminished friction from the furrow slice after it is lifttd up, 
and while it is being turned over. Mold-boards of somewhat 
similar construction have since been observed at farm houses 
in Southern Ohio, said to be very effective in stiff clay. 
Steel plows have been rapidly coming into use ia this sec- 
tion ; many farmers preferrmg the cast iron points, as being 
more easily replaced when worn. 

The following were among those receiving awards on plows 
at the Centennial as stated in the Cincinnati Daily Gazette, 
near the close of September 1876 : Moline Plow Company, 



384 INDIAN CORN ANP TT9 CULTURE. 

Deere & Co., Moline Illinois; Skinner & Bro., Des Moines, 
Iowa; South Bend Iron Works, Indiana, (chilled plows); 
Richmond Indiana Plow Works ; P. P. Mast & Co., Spring- 
field, Ohio, Buckeye Plow, &c.; A. Spear & Sons, Pittsburg, 
Pa , (hillside or turnwrest plow.) 

(/.) Steam plows had made some progress in England in 
1858, when Fowler's took the prize of ^^500 at Chester. 
Mr. French describes the plow as arranged in two gangs of 
three or more, one gang at each end of a heavy frame work 
balanced across an axle supported by two large wheels, and 
drawn with the plows across the field by a stationary engine. 
Two men sat on the machine, one to guide its motion, the 
other to make signals, &c. The plow was drawn toivard the 
engine by a wire rope passing across the field, round a pulley 
made fast at the opposite headland. This pulley was held 
by an anchor — a four-wheeled car heavily loaded with stone ; 
the sharp edged iron wheels cutting down nearly to the axle ; 
the anchor being drawn along the headland by a windlass 
worked by a man in a direction at right angles with the fur- 
row. It was of practical utility only on large, level, clear 
fields. The force working it, as seen by Mr. French, were 
five men and a boy ; it plowed one acre an hour. Six Eng- 
lish plowmen and twelve horses would, for six hours, do the 
same work as the five men and the boy, engine and ma- 
chinery. The engine would need no rest, but would be 
liable to accident, and it would cost time and money to place 
the machinery in position. 

Boydell's Traction Engine met with less favor. It drew 
six plows, opening six furrows across the field, drawn by a 
locomotive, laying down an endless railroad track for its 
wheels, and taking it up in its progress. It came to the field 
from a common road, drew its tender with coal and water, 
and carried the extra clothing and dinner of the laborers. It 
turned readily at the end of the furrow, and could, it was 



n?DIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 885 

claimed, do most of the farm work instead of Uorses. The 
driver sat on the fore-part, the engineer rode behind —Smith's 
steam cultivator did not turn over, but stirred and smashed 
up the soil; it was worked with a stationary engine. 

At the Chicago Exhibition of the United States Agricultural 
Society in 1S59, J, W. Fawkes of Pennsylvania took the gold 
medal offered for a machine to supersede .the plow as then 
used, and most thoroughly disintegrate the soil with the great- 
est economy of labor, power, time and money. It was a 
locomotive running on a large drum, six feet in diameter, and 
six feet long, drawing a gang of eight plows, turning over 
three and a half acres per hour; the work said to be excellent. 
James Waters' steam plow competed with it, its machinery 
being more cumbrous and expensive. An extended descrip- 
tion of other American steam plows appears in U. S. Agri- 
cultural Reports, 1S67, 1869, 1870 and 1871. Plows and 
attachments patented by United States in 1869 were two 
hundred and fifty-five; in 1870, one hundred and eighty- 
two, and steam plows four; in 1871, plows and attachments 
one hundred and sixty, steam plows, thirteen. In 1867 it was 
stated in the Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture, that 
three thousand steam plows were at work in England with 
stationary engines capable of driving three to six plows, and 
doing better and deeper work than formerly, with a reduction 
of one-third of the horses and one-half of the laborers. An 
agricultural writer says that a team of four horses plowing a 
furrow ten inches wide, will leave two hundred thousand foot 
prints on an acre. This packing process might be obviated by 
steam. In England, including interest on investment, depre- 
ciation and repairs, the average yearly cost for maintaining 
a set of steam cutting machinery for breaking and cultivating 
two thousand acres, ten to twelve inches deep, is said to be 
not more than ^300, or seventy five cents per acre. 

But the conditions of American agriculture are so different 
33 



386 INDIAN COKN AND ITS CULTURE. 

from those of England, that time alone can determine how 
far steam culture can be made generally practicable in the 
United Slates. 



CHAPTER XV. 

PLOWING FOR THE MAIZE CROP. 

{a., Farmers frequently consult their convenience in 
plowing. In the fall after the crops are harvested they are 
apt to have most leisure. During that season there are usu- 
ally dry spells, when the plow on common soils will run very 
easily ; stiff soils which plow badly when wet, plow very hard 
when very dry. Probably the fall more than any other season, 
finds clay soils in the right state for plowing; besides the freez- 
ing and thawing of winter effects their best pulverization. 
Winter plowing produces similar effects. An Illinoian m 
U. S. Agricultural Report, 1863, describes the result of win- 
ter breaking prairie ground with the double Michigan plow 
as excellent. He sets the upper plow (on the same beam), 
within two and a half inches of the lower one; it cuts the 
turf from one and a half to two inches thick, and it is rolled 
iip like half of a stove pipe or scroll, over which the lower 
furrow is thrown, thus making air space under the turf, Avhich 
kills the grass and aerates the inverted soil. The plowing can 
be done during open spells in the winter, or early in spring 
when the ground is saturated with water. Three horses will 
then break two acres per day. Mr. Dunlap says he never 
had the turf so well and quickly rotted as with this winter 
breaking, and that prairie can thus be broken at a time of 
comparative leisure with less teams and in all respects better 
than in July. Fall plowing finds many advocates in a very 
different region — Northern New England. Correspondents 
of U. S. P. O., 1853, ^''^"^ different parts of the United States, 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 387 

are about equally divided as to the eligibility of fall and win- 
ter, or spring plowing. Fall plowing for sod has probably 
more advocates than for stubble, except where the latter is a 
stiff clay. One would suppose that the greater length of 
time the sod was turned under, the more complete would be 
the decomposition, and in many sections it doubtless is so; 
say where the long lying winter snows keep the soil in some- 
what of an equal temperature; but if the process is disturbed 
by great changes of heat and cold, we may well believe, with 
some, that spring plowing is the most effective in thorougli 
decomposition. Rapid decomposition, while it continues, is 
apt to make the soil more spongy. Many farmers make a 
great point of not disturbing the sod turned under, as being 
the chief store-house for feeding the roots in the niaturer and 
later growth of the plant. 

{b.) When stiff, heavy and adhesive soil, especially if 
clayey, is plowed wet in any considerable degree, it is apt to 
cake, and is injured by treading. Only sandy or light loamy 
soil will bear plowing when considerably wet, unless it is sod, 
which must not be plowed miry. Very dry, sandy land is 
in danger of drying up too fast for the growth of seeds, and 
IS safest merely stirred to prevent the growth of weeds. A 
dry season is required for plowing marshy, moory or peaty 
ground already under tillage. Clay soils once well and 
thoroughly plowed, are made better absorbents of moisture 
by replowing in dry seasons, which is easily done. 

(c.) Deep plowing is the rule, and shallow the exception. 
In some prairie lands, where the sod of centuries has become 
very dense, thin slices are said to decompose so much faster 
as to yield better crops the first year. If the soil and subsoil 
are rich, deep and similar, deep plowing is not so necessary 
as where the surface of such soil is considerably worn, in 
which case if greatly ameliorates the crop. But it is unsafe 
for a farmer used to plowing only six inches deep to double 



388 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CCLTUKE. 

the depth at once, unless he well knows the character of the 
undersoil, and that matters unwholesome to vegetation will 
not be brought to the surface. If the top soil is thin, and 
the subsoil hard and poor, it is safer to go very little deeper 
than the good soil, unless the plowed ground is thoroughly 
manured and harrowed. Many farmers have successfully 
tried going one inch deeper every year, till the required depth 
was attained. Wherever deep plowing is feasible, as in re- 
tentive soils, it largely increases the stores of moisture and 
plant food, and goes far towards nullifying the effects of 
drought. Deep plowing requires wide furrows. A writer in 
the Ohio Agricultural Report for 1863, maintains that deep 
plowing is most effective in autumn, not only pulverizing the 
soil for the passage of the roots into the subsoil, through the 
influence of frost, rain and air, but so acting on its mineral 
ingredients as to render them available to the succeeding 
crop; that it is most beneficial to stiff clays; and that as a 
rule we may plow deep when the subsoil is of the same char- 
acter as the surface soil, provided both are tenacious ; or 
when the subsoil is of good clay, only requiring atmospheric 
influences to sweeten it ; that deep plowing should be avoided 
on nearly all very light soils, and in plowing for crops after 
a large application of manure, or in turning under clover or 
other green crops, if it buried them too deeply. He claims- 
that deep plowing in autumn on most clays is equal to half 
a dressing of manure. Mr. Holbrook in the New England 
Farmer says that when land is of close texture, with a strong 
compact subsoil, it is not unusual to find a better underneath 
than that which has been worked so long and shallow on top. 
By breaking through this artificial hard pan and bringing up 
a portion of the undersoil to the light of day and the influ- 
ence of manures, the crops will be considerably increased, 
even though only the customary quantity of manure per acre 
is applied. He would have greensward ploweJ in Novem- 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 389 

ber nine or ten inches deep, according to the quality of 
the subsoil, and in spring a good coat of manure spread on 
it; if fine, to be mixed with the soil by the harrow and cul- 
tivator ; if coarse, to be turned under, say four inches by 
light cross plowing without disturbing the sod underneath ; 
green manure at that depth decomposing readily with more 
benefit to the succeeding corn crop than if turned under the 
sod. 

(d.') The subsoil plow makes the undersoil penetrable by 
the roots of the growing maize, and gradually prepares it for 
acting the part of the true soil. Where the top soil of river 
bottoms has been worn down by long cropping, subsoiling 
enables the long roots to bring up fertile matters accumulated 
below. Going down sixteen to twenty inches below the 
surface, it provides for the ''surplus waters which might have 
washed away the surface soil, a retreat where they will not 
stagnate so as to hinder plant growth, but become a reservoir 
of moisture in times of drought A deeply mellowed soil 
and subsoil becomes a storehouse for the carbonic acid and 
ammonia absorbed from the atmosphere ; it economizes dews 
and light showers, and diminishes radiation, being safer 
against frosts. 

A writer in U. S. Agricultural Report 1862, says, that a soil 
already deep and loose does not need a subsoil plow. A grav- 
elly botto.ai to the furrow would be little better after its pas- 
sage. A sterile subsoil with a rich top soil would only serve 
asaregulator of moisture ; a heavy and undrained soil would 
only be benefitted temporarily; the first heavy soaking it 
received would settle it back again to its original compact- 
ness. But for any hard subsoil, whether sterile or not. if 
naturally or artificially underdrained, the benefits of subsoil- 
ing would last some years without the process being repeated. 
"When both surface and subsoil are naturally fertile, it is 
eminently advantageous, and the trench plow, (a substitute 
f jr the subsoil plow) may be used to its full depth without fear. 



390 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

The subsoil plow or attachment, is run in the furrow left 
by the common plow. Writers differ somewhat as to the 
frequency of its use; the earlier recommendations being once 
in five or six years ; it being often difficult to go down more 
than a few inches at first subsoiling ; one or two inches might 
be added at the second, and so on till the greatest possible 
depth is obtained. Others advise more frequent subsoiling. 
The single subsoiler follows the common plow in the same 
furrow, if there are two teams working at the same time; if 
only one, the plowman first strikes the common furrow, then 
changes the team to the subsoiler, and stirs the bottom of the 
same furrow. The subsoil attachment provides for combining 
tlie two operations. The importance of underdraining in 
connection with subsoiling will be readily understood. 

(i^.) The width of the furrow depends partly on the depth, 
and partly on the nature or object of the plowing. A furrow 
six inches wide, and six inches deep, would not easily turn 
over, but would rest on edge. If nine inches wide and six 
inches deep, it would turn over either flat, as many of the 
English and Americans prefer it, or so as that the furrows will 
overlap, according to the Scotch theory and practice, fol- 
lowed in some parts of the United States. A wider furrow 
in proportion to depth, will be more apt to turn over fiat. 
The best theoretical proportion as determined by English 
agriculturalists for overlapping or ridge furrows, standing at 
angle of 45°, is the width to depth, as three to two. In 
practice even for good ridge plowing it is not necessary to 
adhere strictly to that angle or this proportion. Some raatii- 
tain that, if the object be to loosen the soil, a narrow furrow 
should be taken ; if to turn over grass or turf, a wide one. 
But a wide working plow can be easily made to work narrow. 
The medium depth of good plowing has been reckoned at 
seven inches; say the average lies between five and nine. 
Of sixteen farmers in different sections of Southern Ohio 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 891 

whose testimony as to the depth of breaking up ground was 
written out between 1872 and 1S77, one working high table 
clay land plowed four inches deep, another on mixed loam 
plowed shallow; another on elevated and level land plowed 
ten inches if the team would bear it, but his neighbors gener- 
ally from four to six inches ; others on varied hill and run 

bottom, from five to six inches: others on hill land rather 

... . j 

loamy, six to eight mches; one on clayey hill land, eight 

inches; two on bottom, river and creek, eight inches; one on 
old Muskingum bottom, six to nine inches; one on Ohio 
bottom and adjoining hill, red and yellow clay, eight to ten 
inches ; one on sandy plain, second Ohio bottom, eight inches 
for sod, and ten for stubble ; one on dark red clay hill land, 
deep as he could plow, and another deep on both hill and 
bottom. 

(/) Most farmers inquired of in the section alluded to, 
turned the sod over flat, and the recorded statements of 
large numbers throughout the United States, are to the same 
effect. Ridge plowing on the other hand, has many advo- 
cates, and they are probably increasing. Southern English 
farmers claim that flat plowing smothers the weeds; and 
others that it better secures the decomposing sod from dis- 
turbance during after tillage. Flat plowing may answer well 
for light soils ; and dry sandy soils should be kept as level as 
possible to prevent their scorching, washing and excessive 
draining. Many of the Flemish farmers used the binot, eleva- 
ting and depressing the sod into small ridges, which leave 
more surface to air and frost. Ridge or lap plowing has a 
similar advantage in stiff, hard soils, especially if fall plowed. 
When the furrows lap, it is claimed by some that there is less 
chance for weeds, &c., to come up between the furrows. 
But probably their greatest advantage is in moist regions 
where they act as covered or open drains between the fur- 
rows, making, after fall plowing, early spring work more 



392 



INDIAN CORN AN» ITS CUlTlfRE. 



practicable. I,ap furrows will be more effectively harrowed 
and yield more mold. They are made by turning two furrows 
together on an unplowed surface, so that their edges will 
touch each other, leaving the land in alternate furrows and 
ridges. A more scientific method has long been practiced 
in Europe, the first operation of which is striking the furrows. 
The usual breadth of the ridges is from fifteen to eighteen 
feet. The plowman takes three or more poles shod with iron, 
eight or nine feet long, and divided into feet and half feet, 
and first lays off headlands, say eighteen feet wide, ridges 
parallel to the side of the field on which the horses are to 
turn, (fig. i) A B G H, and C D E F,hy running the fur- 
rows EFa.v\6 G H. He then measures dH Ea. J b, and Mc, 



G 




f s c 














€ 




I 




F 
























I, 


U u a i 



It 



LFiii i.\ 



D 



seven and one-half feet each, and setting poles at a, h and e 
(if these are enough to guide him in running a straight fur- 
row), he enters his plow at a^ and then measures off fifteen 
feet to d, planting there the pole taken up at a. He then 
drives the plow to b, and measures off fifteen feet to e, plant- 
ing a pole there ; then finishes the first furrow in a straight 
line to c, and measures off fifteen feet to /, planting a pole 
there. He then turns short about and returns by the furrow 
c b a, throwing the earth in an opposite direction, correcting 
as he returns, any irregularities from unsteady motion of the 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 393 

horses in the first track. The poles being now in the line d 
e /, he enters his plow at d and measures off fifteen feet to g, 
fixing a pole there; then plows Xo f, repeating the previous 
operation with the poles, and returns with a back furrow to 
d, and so on through the field forming open parallel furrows 
fifteen feet apart, the centres of future ridges. 

He then plows out the ridges : beginning at the left hand 
side of the open furrow, he throws his first furrow slice 
towards it; then returning on the opposite side performs the 
same operation, making the two first furrow slices rest on each 
other, and by always turning to the right, and laying his fur- 
row slice towards the centre of the ridge till he has reached 
its boundary on one side JS H, and the line o s, half way be- 
tween c a and ^_/, on the other, he forms the first ridge HE 
OS, of which c a '\% the crown or centre; and in like manner 
the whole is formed into ridges, of which the first marked 
furrows are centres. 

However, when the plow has moved from a to c, he may 
turn his horses left about and return from y to d, and so on, 
always laying his furrow slices towards a c and f d respec- 
tively; thus plowing the half of adjoining ridges and ending 
at s, half way between them. This is said to be the most 
convenient method in practice. The headlands A J3 G H, 
and C D E F, are formed into ridges after the previous 
ones are finished. The ridges thus become slightly curved, 
and by plowing the earth away from the intervals, the ground 
is hollowed there, forming open furrows or drains for the 
surface water. The ridge may acquire a greater curvature 
and elevation by plowing the whole of it a second time in a 
similar manner. 

Other changes may be made in the ridges, such as plow- 
ing two ridges together, called casting, or laying together the 
half of each adjoining ridge, called cleaving. In the original 
laying out of the ridges, their boundaries have' been con- 



301 INDIAN CORM ANP ITS CULTURE. 

sidered straight lines; but irregularities of surface and other 
causes often require a change of direction of the ridges in 
some parts of the field, to carry off the water. Where the 
direction is to be changed, the plowman runs a furrow straight 
or curved; the one set of ridges end here, and others are 
laid off from it in the new direction. The sloping of the 
fields, or situation of the ditches and fences, must generally 
regulate the direction of the ridges with reference to surface 
draining. If there are hollow places where water stagnates, 
suitable outlets must be opened by the plow or spade. The 
ridges are best North and South, for if East and West, the 
north side lies somewhat less to the sun than the south side. 

(g.) Where ridge plowing is not needed, the plows may 
either follow each other round the entire field to the centre, 
or the field maybe divided up; long parallellograms being 
most convenient when the shape of the field or surface will 
admit of them. Great accuracy in laying out the lands will 
add very much to the ease of plowing; if the same width is 
not preserved, but the plow cuts too wide here, and too nar- 
row there, some of the surface will be left unturned, and 
some turned a second time. Where ridges are laid diagonally 
across steep slopes, to lighten the labor, and weaken the tor- 
rents wasting the surface, they should slope upwards, as in 



[Fig. S.] 



A C 

figure eight, from A to the right hand to B ; and not from C 
to the left to Z> ; for in the former case, as the cattle ascend 
the steep, the furrow slice is thrown down-hill; whereas in 
the latter, as they ascend, their labor is greatly increased by 





INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 805 

raising the furrow slice up hill. The advantage of the sidehill 
plow which works horizontally, always throwing the furrow 
down hill, is here apparent. Somewhat modified as the swivel 
plow, the team drawing it alternately gees and haws, turn- 
ing short about at the end of the furrow, and plows level land 
very effectively. 

(//.) A good plow is very important to successful plowing, 
sharp and bright, and of a shape to effect the special purpose ' 
intended ; also a good strong team, so Avell trained that their 
guidance will not prevent the plowman from giving full atten- 
tion to the movements of the plow ; the plow horse should 
be broad in chest and on the back, and not be encumbered 
with unnecessary gearing. Very much d^^ends on the plow- 
man, who in England, is born and bred to his business, and 
turns a furrow with the greatest precision. To run straight, 
even furrows, but slightly differing in depth, is far more im- 
portant to the crop than to get over a large quantity of ground 
in a day. The closer the horses are harnessed to the point 
of draft, the less exertion will be required to overcome the 
resistance. Plowing with a pair abreast, the strongest horse 
should work in the furrow ; with the team harnessed in line, 
the tallest should be foremost, if fully equal to the others. Jt 
is stated in U. S. Agricultural Report, 1862, as the opinion of 
an experienced stage proprietor, that three horses abreast 
draw as well as four with two leaders in advance in the ordi- 
nary way; which agreed with the correspondent's experiments. 

As the right hand horse walking in the furrow, necessarily 
places the other two so far to the left as to create a new 
centre of draft, a special contrivance is necessary to enable 
the common plow to run as with two horses. Some plow 
makers place an iron arc between the handles, to which the 
rear end of the beam is screwed, and along which arc it can 
be moved, till the right centre of draft is attained. "Another 
way is to construct a clevis bent several inches to the left 



396 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTCRE. 

side of the beam. Three horses are driven by the plowman 
with the same faciHty as a two horse team, and do not re- 
quire an additional driver, as becomes necessary with four." 
A correspondent of the Cincinnati Weekly Gazette, (1870), 
describes a treble tree as consisting, first of a double tree four 
feet long; the outside horses are attached to this in the usual 
mode; for the middle horse a single tree is attached to ani 
equalizer, standing erect, attached to the plow clevis; the 
lower end of this is attached to the two horse double tree, 
five inches below the plow clevis; while the single tree of 
the middle horse is attached to the upper end ten inches 
above the clevis. The horses will then walk steadily as if 
only two were plowing together. An excellent way to plow 
deeply in breaking up sod ground. 

The plow team is easily managed, and draws easier for 
being kept in as regular and brisk a pace as the work will 
allow. Breadth and depth of furrow being known, " the 
plow should be held upright, bearing equally all along on a 
straight-sole, and be made to move forward in a regular line 
without swerving to either side, and the edge of the colter 
should be set directly forward, that the landside of it may be 
in a parallel line with the landside of the head. The plow- 
man should walk with his body as nearly as possible upright, 
without leaning on the stilts, and without using force to any 
part, other than may be absolutely necessary to keep the im- 
plement steadily in a straight line. He should also be sparing 
of his voice and of correction to the team; of the former, 
because much cheering and ordering only confuse the cattle, 
and of the latter, because punishment often repeated, ceases 
to have due effect, and thus leads to unnecessary beating." 

(/'.) Where the plow has not the special adjustments for 
regulating the pitch, it may be made to go deeper by lower- 
ing the back bands, or increasing the distance of the team, 
by setting the muzzle higher up in the inde.x of the beam, 



IXDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 397 

and by giving the colter a greater rake forward ; and the re- 
verse will make it go shallower. Hooking the traces into 
notches of the muzzle more towards the unplowed ground, 
you narrow the furrow, and widen it by shifting them to the 
other side, or pressing the handles towards the right. Some 
plows have adjustments for taking more or less land. 

(/) The line of draft, when the horses are properly 
hitched, follows the traces from the point of draft at the 
shoulder, through the notch at the end of the plow beam, to 
the point of the share. The shoulder is nearer the ground in 
the act of pulling, and allowance must be made for this in 
selecting the notih suited to the animal's height. The higher 
the beam above the bottom of the furrow to be plowed, the 
longer and the more need for lengthening the traces. Priest's 
experiments with a furrow nine and a half inches wide, and 
three and three-quarter inches deep, when the traces were 
ten feet five inches, from the point of draft on the horses' shoul- 
ders, to the point of the share, made the power of draft only 
two and one-fourth hundred weight; with the traces length- 
ened to fifteen feet six inches, the draft force was three and a 
half hundred weight. 

In corn tillage, deep and thorough plowing, so as to put 
the soil in the best condition for a seed bed, is at least half 
the battle. This is most easily accomplished where the land 
has been underdrained. As Mr. Klippart in Ohio Agricul- 
tural Report, (1858), remarks, " corn delights in a loose, dry, 
warm soil." 



398 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

HARROWING, ROLLING AND PLANTING. 

(a ) The earliest harrow is thought to have been a com- 
mon hawthorn or other stiff, spinous, woody plant, so pruned 
as to lie flatly on the ground, and make numerous deep, 
parallel scratches ; the like is still used in some cultivated 
parts of Asia. Another early form was a wooden frame of 
bars and cross bars with projecting wooden teeth. Most 
modern harrows have the teeth of iron, and some of them 
the frame also. To adapt them to special soils, and special 
conditions of soil, the materials, weight, size and mode of 
traction have been greatly varied. The rectangular form is 
still used more or less; one recently patented having the cross 
bars set with teeth in such a manner as when drawn straight 
forward, to make a series of equidistant and parallel scratches. 
But the rhomboidal form, to some extent, and the triangular 
to a great extent, have taken its place ; and the changes in the 
forms of the frame and teeth are intended to make the har- 
row act more uniformly and steadily in tearing up the broken 
surface, leveling as it pulverizes. For grounds free from 
obstructions, the teeth should be small and numerous, say 
about fifty teeth, three-fourths inch square; where the soil 
abounds in roots and stones, the teeth must be fewer and 
larger, say thirty to a harrow. The teeth will do better work 
if the edges, instead of the flat side, are to the front. Some- 
times the teeth are rhombic ; and for very hard soils, flat, 
sharp edged steel teeth are used. The harrow is very effec- 
tive in distributing manures. On plowed sod, it is usually 
run in the direction of the furrows; on stubble often both 
ways in turn. Fall plowed ground is frequently harrowed in 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 399 

the spring, previous to planting or replovving. If lumpy, a 
light shower makes it crumble down easier. When the front 
tooth is taken out, it very thoroughly weeds and smooths the 
corn rows just peeping out of the ground. The objections to 
this harrow is that it gets clogged with stubble or other ob- 
structions at the surface; and on uneven ground, its scratches 
are irregular and incomplete. These are remedied in the 
double A harrows, one triangle fitted partly inside of another, 
either by a single hinge, or by two hinges connecting two 
contiguous central beams running back from the front angle, 
so that the whole harrow folds up like the leaves of a book, 
and so that one part may be lifted to clear away obstructions, 
while the other does its work. Sometimes the two are bound 
together by flexible metallic springs. 

Shear's harrow has sharp flat blades, sloping backwards like 
a sled runner, and as they pass over the inverted green sward, 
they press down the sod, while they make powder of its 
upper face. A single passing is said to mellow the surface 
more than twice as deep as the common harrow ; meanwhile 
rolling the grassy part down in its place. Steel teeth are far 
belter than iron ones. A tooth has been patented with the 
front side steel, and the rear iron. Nishwitz's harrow has 
rotating teeth, which are described as circular disks, about 
one foot in diameter, concave on one side and convex on the 
other, and are said to make mince meat of the soil. Another 
harrow is the steel tooth expanding and self adjusting, cut- 
ting the sod both vertically and horizontally, and is claimed 
to cross harrow sod without inverting the furrows, and to ex- 
pand and contract to suit the wants of the farmer. One 
construction, for disintegration of soil, makes the underside 
of a harrow frame solid, and is provided with a series of ribs 
like those on a washboard. Double rectangular, rbomboidal, 
circular, rotary and revolving harrows of various forms, and 
harrows with frames of metallic pipe, have recently been pat- 



400 - INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

ented. In harrowing large fields there is often an advantage 
in yoking several harrows together ; three yoked together 
drawn by three horses, are said to do as much with one dri- 
ver, as four harrows, with four separate yokes, each having 
a driver. 

{b) Rollers are a more recent implement, of great use 
in certain cases for clod crushing, and in common use in 
many maize growing districts, on plowed ground just after 
planting, and on the rows just coming up. They were first 
made of a single log, two or three feet in diameter, shaped 
to something near a perfect cylinder, and fitted to a frame to 
which a team could be harnessed. This was greatly improved 
by sawing the log in sections, say one foot long, accurately . 
dressing them, boring through the centres say one and one- 
half inches, and stringing the block wheels on a round iron 
bar. The timber ought to season one year under shelter 
with the bark on, so that it will not crack ; white elm, or syca- 
more, is said to be good material. Each wheel, as the roller 
is drawn, turns independently. One writer says the best one 
he ever had was made with his own hands, of plank for the 
rolling surface, in two sections, four feet in diameter and 
eight feet long ; it drew with great ease and crushed more 
lumps than a smaller one. Iron rollers are often used for 
heavy work ; sometimes armed with points, sharp or other- 
wise, to make the clod crushing more complete. Some of 
them have been complained of, as torturing the team from 
the manner in which it was attached to them. The draft, it is 
said, should be from the centre of motion, instead of the top. 

A writer in U. S. Agricultural Report, ( ), recommends 

as the best now made, that cast in sections one foot wide and 
twenty-two inches in diameter, weighing one thousand pounds : 
it being of great value to prairie soils, and at corn planting, 
finely comminuting the surface. ' 

Rollers are chiefly useful on heavy soils disposed to be 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE, 401 

cloddy. Land may be too dry for the thorough pulverization 
of the lumps, and then a shower is a good preparation, if it 
does not leave the surface too wet. A moderate wetting 
makes the clods crumble down easily. 

(c.) Furrowing out the prepared soil is the next process, 
according to the old system of maize culture. For this a 
small turning plow was most commonly used ; one object 
being to throw out sufficient mellow soil to cover the dropi)ed 
corn. For drills, the distance apart of the rows for the 
shorter growths, where the land was well cleared, and there 
were few obstructions to after culture, and the soil was rich, 
was three feet; in rare cases, say for sweet corn, a little less. 
Fur taller growing corn, three and a half to four feet, and in 
the South often five or six feet. Many experienced maize 
growers insist on an adequate distance between the rows, 
(three and a half to four feet.) for the better admission of the 
sun. For this a direction North and South would be pre- 
ferable. This distance is probably better for new beginners 
in maize culture, who wish to raise well developed corn 
rather than fodder. Cross furrowing for hills has been very 
common ; though many farmers use markers, running two 
or three cross rows at once. Where the same distance is not 
observed both ways, three by three and a half, three by four, 
and three and a half by four, are most agreeable to eastern 
and western methods ; some furrow three and a half wide on 
their bottoms, and four feet on hills; and some four feet North 
and South, and three feet nine inches East and West. 
Machine planters, driven by horse power, furrow as they 
plant. The depth of furrows usually bears a certain ] ropor- 
tion to the depth of plowing; say three to eight, or four to 
ten. Some furrow deeper on rolling than on flat land. 

(d.) As to the varieties of seed corn suited for planting, 
see chapter VI herein. The following method of saving it 
is described in Ohio Agricultural Report, 185S, as an Indiana 
3-i 



402 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

farmer's: the seed is gathered early in September, when 
about half the ears of the field to be gathered from, have 
their husks whitened with ripeness, showing ears that have 
matured. Be sure to have the seed corn perfectly dry before 
freezing weather comes upon it. Enough husk is left on each 
ear to tie two and two together, and hang on poles in a dry, 
airy place, two ears deep to each pole. The ears ripening 
first should always be selected for seed. A farmer near 
Dodson, Ohio, goes through the field in the fall, and takes 
the ripest from stalks bearing two ears, and from those ears 
best developed, selects ears perfectly filled to the point. Only 
choice grains should be used ; many use only those from the 
top end of the ear; others, those only from the middle. 

(.?.) As to manuring in the hill, see chapter XIII. Farm- 
ers differ in regard to soaking the seed corn. A Licking Co., 
Ohio, farmer, in 1849, found that soaking in copperas water, 
tarring and rolling in plaster, prevented the ravages of the 
ground mole, cut-worm, and various beasts and birds, but 
not those of the grub- worm. A Massachusetts farmer in 1853, 
found worms prevented by soaking in the above, or a solu- 
tion of saltpetre. A Pennsylvanian in the same year de- 
nounced tarring, and protected a whole crop against the birds 
by sowing corn broad cast on the field at planting time. An 
Ohioan used the latter remedy in 1874. Ohio Agricultural 
Report for 1858 recommends mineral soaks, tarring and plas- 
tering the seed to disgust worms and grubs, but not as hasten- 
ing growth more than water soaking. Several Southern 
Ohioans in moist weather, or in replanting, found soaking in 
water, nearly scalding, hastened growth. Another for re- 
planting, soaked in water ten hours, and laid out to dry ten 
hours till sprouted, and then planted. A Kentuckian in 1877 
soaked in warm water, and rolled in tar and land plaster. 
Others have mixed the seed with coal tar, and rolled m 
quicklime till the grains became separated ; others still have 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 403 

used soot as a coating. A large proportion of farmers have 
preferred not to soak. 

(/) Into the question of the best time of planting corn 
in any locality — a question which every farmer as far as prac- 
ticable, should himself determine by experiment — there enter 
the following elements among others: average temperature, 
average rain fall, exposure to sun, exposure to, or shelter 
from cold winds, wetness or dryness of soil, degree of fer- 
tility as regards the maize crop, general condition of the 
ground for tillage, and convenience in arranging farm work. 
A new hand at maize culture, or an old one in a new situa- 
tion, must rely more or less on the established customs of the 
district, if it has any, or on general principles. The climatic 
relations of maize culture have been hereinbefore discussed. 
Where the planting season is too uncertain to work according 
to any general rule, there should be two times of planting, 
early and late, with varieties of seed corn to suit. Even 
where the seasons are usually regular, there are occasional 
variations, and it is best to be prepared for them. Where 
there is a tendency to dryness of soil, early planting seems 
most advisable ; wet soils may be safer planted late. Very 
rich light soils bring on the crops so rapidly, that early or late, 
if they are well tilled, they are safest against drought and frost, 
but not always against floodmg before or after harvesting. 
The safest general rule seems to be to plant as soon as the 
ground is in good order for tillage, sufficiently warm;, and 
the weather is settled. 

A correspondent of U. S. P. O., 1848, stated that there was 
at least two months difference between the planting times of 
Florida and Texas, and those of Maine, Wisconsin and Iowa; 
February and March being those of the former, and May that 
of the three latter States. This general statement shows that 
the farmers of the North are driven to a narrower choice of 
times for corn planting, than those of the South. An analy- 



404 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

sis of more than eighty statements of U. S, Agricultural 
correspondents, representing latitudes between 47 ° and 31^° 
North, shows more uniformity North of latitude 38° ; only 
about twelve of the number being south of that degree. Of 
the former about fifty were in May, five in April, and seven 
or eight in June. A Wisconsin correspondent stated that as 
far North as Sandy Lake, Beech Lake and Red River, plant- 
ing (early) was done about June 1st. In Arostook County, 
Maine, one of the most northerly Counties, corn was planted 
in June. In latitude 46°, (Maine), o.ne plants 20th of May. 
In Jefferson County, New York, from loth to 15th of May. 
More than a degree further South, in Wayne County, Michi- 
gan, near the lakes, early in May. The times for early plant- 
ing gradually approach the last of April as we go southward 
to latitude 39°. 

In the above list there were about thirty-five preferences 
for the first ten days of May, and twenty nine preferences 
for the remaining twenty-one days of May. There were 
nine statements in which June, and nine in which April was 
mentioned. The following are among the broader state- 
ments: April; 20th of April to 20th of May; mid April to 
May; 24th of April to ist of June; last of April to first of 
June; mid May to 5th of June. The plurality in favor of 
t!ie first ten days of May is in accordance with a statement 
made many years ago by one ot the most successful farmers 
in latitude 39°25'. Of the twelve statements south of 39°, 
we have Madison County, Illinois, near first of May; Buck- 
ingham County, Virginia, April; Cabarras County, North 
Carolina, ist to 12th of April; Jackson County, Alabama, 
March till May; Milledgeville, Georgia, February; Barbour 
County, Alabama, March; in Washington County, Mississippi, 
corn would most probably ripen if planted in July; at Ft. Fill- 
more, New Mexico, planting was done early in April. On 
the whole, May seems the preferred month for maize planting 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CDLTURE. 405 

in the great corn growing States. A well known Journal, 
however, said in 1865, in substance: do not fear to plant 
corn till tenth of June. Better plant after this with ground 
i 1 good order, than to have planted at any time previous with 
ground in bad order. If an earlier variety of seed can be 
procured, plant, to be sure of ripening j old Dent will proba- 
bly ripen if planted before the tenth of June. 

(g.) Hand and Machine Flanting. The ground being fur- 
rowed, and perhaps manured in the hill, it has been usual to 
drop the corn by hand, and cover with hoes. A first rate 
dropper will so distribute the grains as to make the firmest built 
hill of corn. Hand Corn Planters make the hole, or place 
of deposit for the seed, and drop the right number of grains. 
See note on page 410. They are coming into extensive use, 
but are charged with dropping the grains too close together. 
When it is necessary to replant, they would seem to be, as 
compared even with steam drawn planters, both labor and 
seed savers Quite a number have been patented; one of 
them being described as having a boot piece, a seed reservoir 
pivoted at its heel, valves, and a spring. Patents for wheel 
jilanters are much more numerous. Some plant two rows at 
once, and rows can be made with them at any distance apart, 
and the number of kernels regulated. Some of them are 
said to plant, in favorable situations, with great rapidity and 
exactness. 

(A.) As many grains are imperfect, and the seed planted 
is liable to be destroyed by insects or otherwise, it is safe to 
plant six or eight in a hill, and pull up ail but three or four. 
If the soil is not in the best condi ion, only two or three 
should bcleft to attain full growth, unless the hills are very 
wide apart. If the plants cannot obtain their nourishment 
below, they must spread out. The quantity of seed planted 
on an acre for general crop, has been averaged at one or two 
gallons; some drill one half bushel to the acre. Many 



400 INDIAN COE.V AND ITS CCLTCHE. 

farmers prefer to plant just the number ihey wish to remain 
in the hill, being very careful to have the selected grains per- 
fect. Where the hills are three or four feet apart, it is com- 
mon in the Middle and Western States to drop three kernels 
in a hill for permanent plants. Where the corn grows very 
tall, as in the Southern States, it was formerly the practice to 
make the hills from four to six feet each way, and drop, orj 
leave permanently, two grains in a hill. When the soil is 
naturally very rich, or is made so, being rich and mellow, 
well developed grains may be planted thicker, as will be seen 
in the statements connected with large crops. If the 
planting is in drills, say four and a half by two feet; 
four and a half by one and a half feet; or four feet by one 
as the custom is in different southern or western localities, or 
three and a half feet by nine or ten inches as more common 
further North ; only one plant is usually left in the hill. Mr. 
Ludlow of New York, (see New England Farmer, 1829,) 
raised ninety-eight bushels of corn on an acre, in single rows, 
eight inches apart in each row. The better opinion is that 
more corn can be grown to an acre by drilling, though at a 
greater cost of time and implements. Some maintain that 
the riches of the soil can be more fully economized by hav- 
ing the plants stand singly. Where they are somewhat spread 
in the hill at planting, it is not unlikely that they help to 
brace one another. 

(/) As to the depth of planting or covering, something 
has already been said under the head of "Large Crops." In 
cases where successful planting has been very deep, say four 
to six inches, either the climate was warmer and the planting 
very early, and the ground put in the best condition for 
growth by the retention of sufficient heat and moisture ; or, 
if the soil was cold, the seed was enclosed in some material 
such as sifted coal ashes, to keep it warm and thrifty. Ex- 
periments on a small scale were made with the latter in 1877 



INDIAW CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 407 

on corn grain planted from three to four inches deep, some 
on 28th of March, some on 7th of April; eight or ten grains 
of small roasting ear corn being thus put in a hill. A few 
hills came up entire, others in part; scarcely any of the hills 
wholly failed, and more or less corn was ripe for boiling by 
the second of August. 

This, however, would be an expensive way of planting on 
a large scale, and the general rule favors a depth of one and 
a half or two inches. The fine soil wants to be pressed round 
the planted grains, either by the hoe at the time of covering, 
or by the roller after the field has been planted. One object 
is to bring the earth closer to the germinating grain, and 
another to prevent radiation, and keep it from drying 
up ; the first reliance of the germ being on the grain and 
not on extraneous matter. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

AFTERCULTURE OF MAIZE. 

(^.) Scattered throughout the United States are large 
numbers of small corn fields in villages and large towns and 
in their suburbs, from one-fourth acre upward, which re- 
ceive more or less culture with other implements than the 
spade, hoe or rake. It is very common for some one in the 
neighborhood who owns or drives a team and a plow, to do 
up by small jobs, the larger cultivation in these small fields. 
A one horse plow on light sandy soils suitable for gardens, 
frequently does both the breaking up and after cultivation. 
The double shovel is better for clayey and other stiff land ; 
the old-fashioned shovel plow is sometimes used, throwing 
the earth both ways, stirring instead of fairly turning over the 
soil. 



408 INDIAN CORN AND 1T3 CULTURE. 

For very mellow deep garden soils, the garden cultivator 
was commended in Ohio Agricultural Report, 1869; being 
provided with wheels and pushed forward by the handles, 
and having several attachments, including a knife projecting 
from the beam into the ground at the bottom and center of 
the wheel, so as to cut the runners of strawberry and other 
vines when the wheel presses on them; a drill with pipe and 
wings for opening the ground, dropping and covering the 
seed, which can be removed when not needed; a share set 
angling with a wing to cover seed when desired, and throw 
dirt to and from the row; a common cultivator tooth, sharp 
at both ends, reversible, and wings attached to it ; a scuffle 
hoe with sharp sides for cutting weeds at or below the sur- 
face; and a rake to level and weed the ground; these to be 
substituted for the share when needed, and fastened with a 
wedge. The first cultivation with the turning plow is with 
the landside or bar next the corn on each side, very close to 
it; if the rows are straight, throwing the earth away from it. 
This, when the corn is just up, and needs a good deal of sun, 
admits it more freely; and it cuts up the weeds next the 
young plant, and loosens the contiguous surface. 

If the furrowing runs both ways, the second cultivation 
with the plow can be put off, say a week after running the 
plow in one direction ; and in another week the soil thrown 
away from the corn can be thrown back again with the mould- 
board to the corn; and in the fourth week the same in the 
cross rows. By this time, if the season is favorable and the 
soil is in the best condition, the corn will have attained a 
height that will shade the ground; and if the weeds have 
been perfectly subdued, little more cultivation will be re- 
quired. Where clay is predominant in the soil, it is very 
important to plow deep at the start, and continue to do so 
at short intervals, so that when drought comes, the roots will 
find abundant moisture in the spongy soil; if this is neglected 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CCLTURS. 409 

at nrst. deep plowing may be hazardous in drought. The 
roots make the best of their situation in the tough clay, and 
when the rough plow tears them and breaks up their nests, 
they often die out, and the crop is sometimes ruined. But 
where from the first, the roots become accustomed to that kind 
of frequent disturbance, which opens new paths for them, 
and fresh sources of plant food, they recover very quickly 
from their wounds, and gain instead of losing vigor. 

{b.) The double shovel plow is better than the common 
one for stiff soils not plowed sufficiently deep ; two small 
shovels will, of course, pulverize the surface better than a 
single shovel or turn plow. It is generally passed twice in a 
row, and for repetition the same rule might be observed as 
for the cultivating plow. This implement will plow nearly four 
acres a day. Where a seven toothed cultivator can be 
afforded, it is very useful in the latter stages of cultivation, 
as it shaves the surface without interfering with the roots and 
keeps it very mellow. Cultivation can then be continued 
till the corn begins to set. 

A great variety of cultivators have been patented ; most 
of them improvements on the old horse hoe, so highly prized 
on English acres. The two-horse cultivator on large clear 
fields, has come into extensive use ; there are two small plow 
shares on each side, and the inner ones which come next the 
corn are somewhat in the shape of bull tongues. The arch 
connecting the right and left parts is high enough not to in- 
jure the tops of corn during the season of culture. On 
favorably situated land about nine acres a day can be tilled 
with it. 

(c.) One of the best methods is to commence, when the 
corn is very small, with the bull tongue plow, which usually 
has a curved iron beam and iron handles, running very close 
to the rows, and as deep as possible, three or four times in 
each row j thus making a complete bed for the reception and 
35 



410 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTCEE. 

retention of moisture and fertilizing matters. Afterwards 
the cultivator or other shallow working implement may be 
used to keep the surface clean and mellow. 

(d.) One reason why so many cultivating implements are 
yearly patented in the United States, is the fact that farmers 
frequently make their own. Differences of soil and special- 
ties of surface are constantly suggesting new contrivances 
for obviating difficulties in practical maize culture. It is for- 
tunate for the farmer that in so many cases he can make his 
own implements ; if, as a consequence, he touches less of 
gold and railroad stocks, he has the real kingship, independ- 
ence ; this, however, may be carried too far. There is a 
reasonable dependence, as well as independence, and if he 
gives others besides the blacksmith and wagon maker the 
opportunity of working for him, he will find more buyers and 
obtain better prices for his grain and pork. 

Some old fashioned implements have become a sort of 
necessity to the farmer; so the little corn harrow now and 
then turns up; the shovel plow is often a go between among 
later inventions ; and the hoe will keep its place sometime 
longer. The old plows and cultivators left the hoe to finish 
up the weeds; the recent close cutting knives, spades and 
shares chop fine the weeds and stubble as well as earth, and 
fender attachments keep the loose soil off the tender plants *<7. 
Some farmers remove the suckers as fast as they appear, others 
consider them fruitful and let them remain. 



Note n.— Brief statements, with partial drawings, in the Official Gazette of 
the Patent Office of the United States, show the claims of the patentees; the 
specitications, including: full illustrative drawinc;s, and describing the subject 
matter of the patent in detail, as well as its object and modus operandi are em- 
ix)died in large monthly volumes, containing full indexes of the names of pat- 
entees and classes of patents. Each of the monthly volumes of 1877, from 
.January to .Tune contains over one thousand pages of specifications, licsides 
several hundred pages of drawings. There are also nine or fen volumes of 
General Indexes, for looking up patent matter from 1790 to 1876. They are found 
in the Public Library of Cincinnati, and probably iu the other large public 
libraries of the I'nited States. Inventors, manufacturers, and others interested 
in the sale or use of the subjects of patents, visiting cities having such libraries, 
might fiud themselves amply repaid for a few days careful study in these vol- 



india:^ corn and its culture. 411 

(eJ) The number of times corn should be cultivated is 
less for the greater thoroughness of the first plowing, and the 
greater skill in planting; less for the greater sponginess of 
the soil; less for a wet season, and in some cases less for 
early neglect and for the limited number of suitable culti- 
vating implements. In general it pays well for more fre- 
quent stirrings, if done skillfully in time. To determine the 
proper number often requires close observation and ripe ' 
judgment. For the following statements either the pens or 
lips of farmers are responsible : 

Beginning back in 1850, or thereabouts, an Illinois farmer, 
when corn was up, passed a heavy harrow over the rows, 
then plowed three or four times between them. A Missou- 

Times ; but it is difficult, from so large a mass of details, to generalize as to any 
special class of implements in extensive use. Something of the kind is done in 
U. S. A. R. 18G9and 1«70, from which the following brief abstract is taken : 

" Thirty years ago a man with a hand hoe could, by the aid of a hor.-e and 
plow, for plowing furrows between the rowsof corn, cultivate an acre in a day. 
is'ow, (1870), with a span of horses and one of our best riding cultivators, fifteen 
acres can be accomplished, and this with almost as much ease and comfort as a 
day's journey in a buggy." Nearly four hundred patents have been issued as to 
cultivators from 1872 to June 1877. 

It is stated in U. S. A. R. 18G9, that more than one hundred corn hand plan- 
ters had been patented before that year. Hughes' patent had two legs pivoted 
logeUier like the divisions of a candle snuffer, the lower end to be thrust into the 
ground to form an opening for the seed : the upper end having two handles. To 
the outside of one leg was securely fi.xed a seed box, into which extended a seed 
slide connected with the other leg. The lower end of the planter was thrust 
into the ground : the handles then brought together, enlarging the opening into 
the soil, and at the same time drawing out the seed slide with its charge of grain, 
which was dropped into the opening: the planter was then withdrawn and the 
seed covered and pressed down with the foot of the operator. 

In 1828 Starr's patent for planting grain had handles and a beam similar to a 
common plow, supported from the rear by wheels ; beneath and about the cen- 
tre <>f the beam there was a shovel plow to open the furrow for the reception of 
the seed, and to the rear of the machine was attached an iron scraper to close 
the furrow after the seed was dropped. On the top of the beam was placed a 
hopper, in which a sheet iron cylinder was made to revolve by suitable mechan- 
ism ; its edge perforated at suitable distances to receive pieces of metal, which 
acted as valves working upon a pin, and forced out by springs contained within 
the wheel, so as to project beyond its periphery, but capable of being forced in, 
when passing the ends of the slot in the bottom of ihe hopper. These valves 
contained the quantity of seed to be dropped in each hill, and might be more 
or less numerous, according to the distance at which they were to be dropped iu 
the furrow. 

Corn planters usually plant the seed in hills. A machine can easily be so 
arranged as to be changed from a grain drill to pi suit in hills, by diminishing 
the number of cavities on the dropping wheel. Then by removing the dropping 
mechanism the machine may be used as a wheel cultivator, a wheel plow, or a 
harrow ; or even a land roller may be attached. Some corn planters have a re- 
ciprocating slide, similar to that described in seed drills and used in connection 
with a cut-ofFor brush for sweeping back the giain, and connected with a hinged 
valve in the runner, which receives the charge of grain after it falls through the 
slide, and by which it is dropped into the earth. The cut-off chiefly employed is 



412 INDIAN CORN AND 1X3 CDLTUKE. 

rian plowed three or four times with shovel or Carey plow. 
One farther South plowed three times, decreasing in depth. 
A Mississippian used first the narrow shovel, bull tongue or 
scooter plow; then thinned out; after rain used the shovel 
jilow from and toward the corn, and killed weeds and grass 
wiih an iron toothed harrow, &c. Further North, testimonies 
multiply; the after culture being three or four times with the 
plow, at intervals varying from a week to ten days; the first 
from the corn in the main furrows ; the second from the 
corn in cross furrows; the third to the corn in the main fur- 
rows; the fourth to the corn in cross furrows. A uses the 

a brush ; though an India rubber sweep is sometimes used. Generally one or two 
scrapers to throw the loose earth upon the dropped grain, are placed in the roar 
of the runners. 

The hand corn husker is described in U. S. A. R., lSfi9, as a small and simple 
instrument, designed to be grasped with one hand and to assist in tearing the 
hu.sk from the ear- sometimes a glove with teeth or liooks : sometimes a device 
to be used like a pair of tongs, having two pivoted arm.s between which the 
husk is caught ; often a little metal bar, with loops or rings for tlie fingers and a 
projection between which and the thumb the husk is caught. Their main object 
IS to save the fingers. 

Machine buskers are described as generally having a pair of corrugated 
horizontal rollers, with yielding bearings. The rollers bite off the ear from the 
stalk, which is presented to and drawn between them, the ear falling upon or 
being carried to the stripping rollers. The strippiug rollers arc geuerally ar- 
ranged transversely to the horizontal rollers, and in a slanting position, so 
that the ear, when stripped of its husk and silk, may slide down into any suit- 
able receptacle. These rollers are placed close to one another, and nip or catch 
hold of the husk and tear it from the car in a very rapid and satisfactory man- 
ner. The stripping rollers are generally covered with some elastic substance as 
India rubber, and have spiral grooves or corrugations. In some cases, hard 
rollers are employed, and they may be grooved or corrugated, or one of them 
maybe provided" with teeth, moving through annular grooves on the other 
rollers. 

In IT. S. A. R. 1869, it is stated that the improvements on corn shellers pat- 
ented in that year were chieliy variations on Houseman's patent, a hand im- 
plement. In its improved state it was composed of two iron bars about si.t 
inches long, pivoted together; the shelling ends or palms, which were semi-cir- 
cular in form, being kept in close contact by means of a suitable spring; the 
palms were made semi-circular in form, so as to embrace the ear ; and their 
inner sides bore ridgesor ribs terminating in claws, which served to remove the 
kernels; the ribs having a spiral inclination which served to draw the ear 
through, when the implement was operated. In operating it the sheller was 
seized by a handle provided for that purpose, and the small end of the cob iu- 
serte 1 between the palms: the instrument was then revolved, and the ear drawn 
through: the kernels being easily and quickly removed by the claws. 

In this connection may be introduced a brief statement from U. S. A. R. 
f Agricultural Patentsi, as to grain bins intended for use in great grain markets 
as Chicago. These bins are frequently constructed of some porous material, 
generally brick, intended to absorb any superfluous moisture, and thus prevent 
grain from spoiling. The bins are generally made of circular form and are 
arranged in series side by side, in a manner intended to economize space as 
much as possible. In grain dryers, the inventors seem to have mostly in view 
the drying of the grain by the introduction of currents of air. These currents 
are generally introduced through perforated pipes, which run through the l)ius. 
Sometimes performed partitions or walls are employed for a similar purpose. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 413 

cultivator with the plow to keep down the weeds, and put the 
ground in better condition; say two or three times, laying by 
with the cultivator at knee high. B begins soon as rows are 
seen, with the cultivator ; then plows and hoes ; corn fifteen 
inches high, uses both cultivator and plow both ways, and 
finishes hoeing about the time the spindle top appears. C, 
corn fairly above ground, thins to three or four stalks, passes 
cultivator twice each way, and repeats this at regular inter- 
vals, pulling suckers, till the ear begins to shoot. D, when 
the corn is three or four inches high, passes the cultivator two 
or three times between rows both ways till near wheat har- 
vest. E runs it six times each way till near the time of ta^- 
seling. F, when the plants are quite small, uses the cultivator 
instead of plow ; thinning, when ten inches high, the plants 
to three or four ; supplies deficiencies by replanting, and stirs 
every three weeks or oftener, if weather dry, with plow and 
cultivator till ear sets. G works with cultivator till ten inches 
high, then with double mold-board and span of horses throws 
up a light furrow on each side. H keeps the ground loose 
and free from weeds with cultivator or double shovel plow, 
— stating that a triple shovel plow is fast coming into use. 
I, '(a Virginian,) drags the horse rake with front tooth taken 
out, over the young corn, which should be immediately 
dressed with the hand rake with large spike nails for teeth; 
after dressing with the hoe (in stiff land), he runs the plow 
first from and then to the corn, being careful to uncover, 
&c. J plows from and to the corn and then runs the cul- 
tivator till the ears begin to set. K jilows four times, 
breaking all the rows each time. L, when the corn is five or 
six inches high, has the best plowman running a furrow as 
near as possible to the plant, with the bar side next it. and 
another breaking up the intermediate space; both working 
deeply. M, with tlie subsoil or bull-tongue plow, drawn by 
two horses, one on each side of row, passes close to the young 



414 INDIAN COEN AND ITS COLTURE. 

hills, then with cultivator to clear out the middles; in ten 
days, with wing plow one way in a row throwing dirt to the 
corn ; in a few days finishing with the cultivator. 

The old fashioned hilling has long ago, as appears from the 
records, given way to level culture. Small hills are sometimes 
made. The hoe was formerly in use largely between plowings, 
except when these kept the ground mellow and free from 
weeds; it is dispensed with in much of the later culture. 
One farmer found that by plowing late, and planting from 
2oth to 25th of May, corn grew rapidly, and did as well with- 
out hoeing as the hoed crop did, planted in April. Rapid 
working is the rule. With reference to deep plowing in dry 
weather, an Ohioan remarks that if clay soil is first plowed 
only three inches deep, it could not be plowed again in a dry 
season, when the stalk is four feet high, because the soil 
would be so hard that the roots could not possibly penetrate 
the unbroken ground downward; whereas in clay ground, 
plowed ten or twelve inches deep, the roots go down in search 
of moisture, and if the soil is loose to that depth, descend 
even three or four feet. If only one side of a row is plowed 
at a time during drought, the roots on the other side can feed 
the stalk while the plowed side recovers itself. 

Many farmers do not plow at all in time of drought, others 
merely stir the surface; others who begin early with deep 
plowing and keep it up at short intervals, plow in clay soiU 
in very dry weather, all the deeper. But such corn ground 
plowed shallow, or seldom, or irregularly, before drought, is 
sometimes plowed deeply to the ruin of the crop when 
drought comes. Judge Buel passed the harrow at first dress- 
ing between the rows both ways; used the hoe little more than 
to destroy weeds; at second and last dressing plowed shallow, 
and earthed the hill slightly, not disturbing the roots or 
bringing manure to the surface. Many farmers inquired of, 
during recent years, prefer the double shovel plow, used from 



IXniAN CORN A\D ITS CULTUKE. 415 

three to five times The two horse cultivator, with the bull 
tongues inside so as to run deep and close to the corn, has 
already been referred to, and is much used on large clear 
fields for early culture. 

(/) The proper time for cessation of culture is indicated 
above. While the plant is growing in stature or bulk, culti- 
vation that does not disturb the roots may aid it; but after 
tasseling begins, working in most cases delays the ripening. 
Some of the most successful farmers leave the plant to itself, 
when, after early and rapid tillage, it has reached the height 
of four oi five feet, and so shades the ground as to choke 
down the weeds Many cease at earing time, or when the 
corn is out of milk. 

Special ways of cultivating corn, {g') In gardens. Gardeners 
try to make the most of their square rods. Very heavy ma- 
nuring, and very deep tillage enable them to raise several 
crops in the same year off the same ground. Tomatoes ripen 
late from a comparatively early planting ; let the plants, early 
grown from seed in boxes, be set out in properly prepared 
hills, six feet apart each way; and then let hills of sweet 
corn two and a half or three feet each way be planted among 
them, not too close to the tomatoes. The young tomatoes 
grow so slowly that the corn will, when properly manured and 
tilled, go on to the roasting ear state without being materially 
hindered in its growth ; and is cut off just in time to give the 
tomatoes full scope. 

(Ji ) Corn and potatoes are sometimes grown in alternate 
rows with much advantage. Late potatoes require more 
shade than early ones, and sugar corn will not shade them 
any too much. Whether very tall corn will permit their full 
developement, is to be tested. It has been said that corn 
will grow in the same hill with potatoes, but records of re- 
sults of such an experiment are not very abundant. 

(/.) The habit of planting beans and pumpkins among corn 



418 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTUEE. 

has come down from the Indians. The beans should be of 
late varieties planted at the last hoeing, so as not co interfere 
with tillage. Pumpkins, with the same precaution, may be 
planted in alternate rows in every third hill. Beans may be 
l>lanted in the intervals in one direction, or at suitable dis- 
tances apart, in circles round corn hills. 

(/) The practice of listing was formerly resorted to in 
the West, where land was cheap and abundant, and time and 
money scarce and dear. One of the methods was to turn 
over shallow furrows at convenient distances apart ; a man 
following the plow with an ax to cut through the slices at 
regular intervals and deposit the seed. The intermediate 
spaces could be plowed after the corn was up; much depended 
on the season as to the results; sometimes only five bushels 
were obtained, sometimes twenty-five. 

{k ) Maize culture in rainless Western districts, in connec- 
tion with irrigation, has already been referred to; the general 
plowing being performed, irrigation is a substitute for after 
cultivation. According to the accounts given of this species 
of maize culture in New Mexico many years ago, the water 
was let in to mellow the earth, facilitate the plow, and bring 
the planted corn out of the ground. Furrows were then run 
three feet apart, to receive the seed, planted so close in the 
rows as scarcely- to admit the hoe. One plowing and one 
hoeing from planting to maturity, were given the crop which 
received in the meantime from two to four irrigations, accord- 
ing to the weather, and the supply of water. There were 
large settlements along the smaller streams ; each farmer took 
his turn in the use of water; the farmers were often restricted 
to a single irrigation during the summer, and sometimes a 
long drought caused a failure in this; but generally with the 
aid of chance showers fair crops were produced. The New 
Mexicans have found the necessity for irrigation diminished 
by deep plowing. The common shovel plow was then one of 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 417 

their chief implements. Lands in those districts without 
running water had no agricultural value. The first watering 
was near the beginning of May. Deep furrows for planting 
were harrowed to prepare the surface for irrigation ; the corn 
was shovel plowed till half leg high, and watered about 26th 
of June, and again when the sprigs began to loosen the ear. 
At Dona Ana, there were four or five irrigations on the crop; 
at Albuquerque the crop varied from thirty to fifty bushels, at 
other places from seventy-five to one hundred bushels per 
acre. At Fort Fillmore the land was rarely plowed even once 
after planting, and never more than in one direction, but 
there was great labor expended in irrigation. Farmers com- 
menced gathering the maize by order of the Alcador all on 
the same day, and they gathered day and night. 

Irrigation in the recent settlements of Colorado, as de- 
scribed in 1870, seemed to have made the maize crop more 
certain, though the average product was less. The main 
ditches being on highlands made irrigation each way easy, 
the lands being divided by small ditches. Corn was planted 
in rows and irrigated by streams of water let in between the 
rows ; want of water was indicated by the curling up of the 
leaves at mid-day. Too much water in summer made vege- 
tation turn yellow. After a wetting, the ground being dry 
enough to work, the cultivator was passed between the rows 
to prevent baking. Standing water with no outlet was ruinous 
to a crop, but a stream constantly flowing on a crop did no 
harm if it drained off immediately. On side hills exposed to 
washing, little troughs made by nailing four laths together 
were laid near the bottom of the ditches, a rod apart, for the 
water to run in. 

Irrigation was not often required before the first or middle 
of June. Water moved more easily over the furrows of mucky 
soils, than those of light ones. Fall plowed lands required 
less irrigation than those plowed in spring. A citizen of Den- 



418 INDIAN CORN AND ITS COLTURE. 

ver favored leveling the land, and the use of machines for 
making the water run in little channels ; he was for plowing 
deep, avoiding dead furrows, pulverizing the soil thoroughly, 
sowing pure good seed properly, running the ditches on a grade 
not more than half an inch to the rod, and from five to twenty 
rods apart, harrowing in the direction you would irrigate, 
rolling the young rooted grain, when the ground is moist, 
but not wet, at right angles to the head ditches; commencing 
irrigation before the crop begins to suffer from drought, and 
not quitting for a light rainfall. 

An address before the Greeley Farmer's Club, stated that as 
good corn was grown there as any where, but the average 
was only twenty-five bushels to the acre ; they could plant any 
time after the first of May; it would mature if planted by 
the twentieth; it could be put in and gathered when there 
was no other work, and after ripening might stand in the 
fields years without injury; it would not mature without water. 
From the San Antonio Valley in Texas, first settled by the 
Spaniards in 1718, where the soil is a rich deep black loam, 
it was stated that there was an irrigation once in ten days, 
the hours being fixed ; every man had his dam and gate, and 
when his hour arrived lowered his gate, (his higher neighbor 
having finished irrigation and raised his gate); the water over- 
flowed his land, while with the hoe he trenched here and 
dammed there, till all the ground was wet. Some skill was 
required to run the rows with reference to the ditch. Irri- 
gable land in San Antonio Valley was worth $100 to $200 
per acre ; that with the same soil, but incapable of irrigation 
not $5. These Spaniards never manured. 

The best time to irrigate is early in the morning, or about 
sunset. It is a good time when a rising cloud gives promise 
of a shower. It was stated in behalf of a Colorado colony, 
that they would not, if they could, have rain as it falls at the 
East, instead of irrigation; there being no uncertainty in a 
crop raised by the latter if properly conducted. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 419 

(/) The Navajoes, a powerful tribe of Indians, in West 
New Mexico, on the arid plains, drive stakes made of very- 
hard wood, and made still harder by exposure to fire, twelve to 
eighteen inches into the soil, and thus form holes, each of 
which receives at the bottom a ball of mud, about the size of 
a man's fist, enveloping one or more grains of maize, the 
ball being covered with two or three inches of light earth, 
and the grains left to germinate. Sufficient moisture is thus 
contained to enable them to spring up; early evaporation is 
prevented by the thin covering of earth ; the great depth of 
the hole shelters the roots from the heat and dryness of the 
superficial soil, and the plant is supported in its growth by 
the greater moisture of the subsoil. Good crops are the 
consequence. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

CUTTING UP, HARVESTING, ETC. 

(a.) One of the old methods was topping. It was believed 
that after the stamens at the top of the plant had fertilized 
the ear completely and become dry, the upper part of the 
stalk was of no further use. The top was then cut off with 
a sharp knife a little above the topmost ear, and the blades 
stripped as near as possible to the stem; the ears were left 
on the butt stalks to ripen. 

Some of the advantages of this method were, an earlier 
saving of fodder as against frost ; less exposure of the grain 
and fodder to mould from wet weather at harvesting or soon 
after; less weight and bulk of fodder to house, and perhaps 
in some cases greater certainty of the grain being moderately 
ripe. On the other hand, it was a slow operation; less fodder 
was saved, often it was not so well saved, and the corn was 
more liable to waste from shelling out when gathered. 



420 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

If this crop was followed by wheat, it could not be so sea- 
sonably put in. The experience of many farmers was that 
nothing was gained either in the quantity or quality of ripe 
grain, and that in the ordinary course of farm business, less 
and inferior fodder was saved. Some, however, still prefer 
this method. When fodder is high and labor cheap, and the 
butts can be economized for cattle food, by being chopped i 
fine and mixed with richer cattle feed, it may sometimes be 
most advantageous; so when the field is small as well as 
the working force, and the cultivator's circumstances or 
business do not admit of his keeping a horse, but only a cow 
or two, the time spent in topping and stripping is less of an 
object; while the comparative lightness of the fodder will 
enable him very promptly to put it under shelter by hand. He 
can turn the butts to good account as bedding for his cows 
or hogs. 

(b.) Cutting up at the roots or near the ground has become 
the prevailing practice; it being very generally believed to be 
not only labor-saving, but better for both grain and fodder. 
If rightly shocked in moderately dry weather, the curing goes 
on very well, while the grain fills out from the accumulated 
riches of the stalk. The indications for the right time have 
been variously stated, as the drying up of the lower leaves, 
the partial whitening of the outer husks, the glazed appearance 
of the grain, and the finding no ears young enough for boil- 
ing. Cut up then, if you want the best fodder ; some of the 
special times mentioned have been from loth to 2cth of Sep- 
tember, and the loth of October. 

{c.) Instruments for cutting up were formerly made by 
breaking an old scythe in two or three pieces, and putting 
handles to them ; the grass knife was sometimes used. A 
hand implement has been made expressly for the purpose, 
and also a rolling stalk cutter. Machines for cutting and 
shocking corn have been noticed, or have obtained premiums 



INDIA.N CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 421 

at Ohio State Fairs at various times since 1853. Many have 
been patented in late years; one in 1873 is described as 
having disk cutters, one of which has a circumferential groove 
for the other to work in, for severing the stalks, which are con" 
veyed and delivered in rear of the machine in quantities 
sufficient for shocking. One in 1874 cut the corn by a re- 
ciprocating cutter, and received it on the platform in a stand- 
ing position, where it was gathered into a shock and removed 
by a derrick to the rear of the machine, where it was de- 
posited on the ground. 

(d) By the old process of hand cutting, a certain number 
of hills are put together, around four central ones, with their 
tops tied diagonally so as to make a firm nucleus; if the 
weather at cutting is moist, a small number, say twelve or 
sixteen are put together at first, and after partial curing are 
gathered into larger ones, or removed to long rows resting 
against extended and supported poles, or to a well ventilated 
barn. A shock of twenty-five hills is one of the smallest 
spoken of for permanent field curing; under more favorable 
conditions from forty-eight to one hundred hills are put 
together, and in some cases where wheat is sown on corn 
ground, one hundred and twenty or one hundred and forty- 
four in shocks placed so as least to interfere with harrowing 
or plowing. The beauty of the harvest field is much in- 
creased by having these stand equi-distant, and it makes the 
wheat field much more regular, but for this purpose it will 
answer, if the rows of shocks are parallel in the direction in 
which the land is to be plowed or harrowed. If the corn is to 
stand in the field any length of time, its security against mould 
is greatly promoted by the proper construction of the shocks, 
built, if possible, against standing hills of equal stalks, and 
well tied below the top with flexible bands of corn or rye 
straw, so as to stand erect amid driving winds and rains. 
Machine cutting and shocking may perhaps answer very well 



422 INDIAN CORN AND ITS COLTIRE. 

Oil level land, but it is not easy to see how the difficulty of 
getting firm shocks on steep side hills can be obviated by 
most of the machines heretofore patented. 

{e. How long the shocks should remain in the field before 
husking and hauling in, must depend mainly on the con- 
venience of the farmer; unless the dangers that beset the 
field as a depository of harvests are imperative as to lis re- 
moval. One advantage of corn fodder as compared with hay, 
is the ease with -which it is saved, so as to answer some good 
purpose as coarse feed. Those who keep cows, but have no 
barns, can usually stow away corn fodder in yards where 
there is room to plant a sufficient number of stout forks to 
receive the long riders on which the fodder may lean, or 
where a stack can be conveniently built. In either case, 
after being well cured, it can be better saved than in field 
shocks, unless after husking, several shocks, bound up in bun- 
dles for convenient handling, are well put together. Stock 
raisers frequently prefer to haul the corn and fodder husked 
or unhusked to the feeding lots, and spread on the grass for 
the animals to dispose of; and this sort of feeding often ex- 
tends into the winter. Some farmers give one month to the 
shocks for curing, and then husk and haul in; others leave 
the corn in shock till the first or middle of October or Novem- 
ber, or even December ; some want a good frost on the shock 
before husking, as it dries the easier. 

(/.) Husking was formerly done by hand, with some very 
simple contrivances as aids, and this was enlivened by husk- 
ing bees which combined brisk work with sociality. Hand 
corn buskers of sundry patterns have been lately patented. 
By far the greater number of farmers, probably, still husk by 
hand, and generally in the field. Many are careful to leave 
the husks on the fodder. One of the corn husking gloves 
patented in 1873 is said to consist of metallic plates, provided 
with rows of teeth, used on the thumb, fore and little fingers 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 423 

of the left hand, in connection with the common husking pin 
in the right hand Quite a number of inventors of machine 
huskers have received patents — one of the briefest descrip- 
tions is this : " rolls tear the ear from the stalk, and the ear 
falls on outer rolls ; the husk is torn from it on its descent." 
See page 412 Note. 

(g) The Indian deposited his harvest under ground, be- 
cause he seldom placed any permanent improvements above 
ground. The white man is a builder, and perhaps the sim- 
plest of his depositories for corn in the ear is the crib formed 
by putting fence rails with the ends crossing in a square, with 
a floor that will protect the grain from damp, and in some 
measure from vermin; and roofed with boards. Other cribs 
of the cheap kind are of logs unchinked. Some farmers 
spread the husked ears on the floors of their lofts. The im- 
proved crib is usually a building with a tight floor, resting on 
flat stones which rest on props high enough and so prepared 
as to make the climbing difficult for rats and mice ; the whole 
width about four feet; the two long sides covered at parallel 
intervals by slats of equal width, say three inches, placed so 
as to air the corn ; a suitable door being hung for putting in 
and taking out the ears. The height and length may be ex- 
tended to meet the wants of the builder; but some farmers 
are careful to put only two hundred or three hundred bushels 
in one bulk. Where corn is fed largely to hogs or poultry, it 
is convenient to have the crib near the pens or coops. Corn 
cribs are not entirely unknown to the Patent Office. One 
patent describes an inclined floor and other improvements, 
and another a rectangular structure with deflectors, which 
cause the ears of corn to fall centrally through a narrow aper- 
ture to the floor beneath, so that an animal may reach in and 
withdraw an ear, but cannot eat it within the crib; many 
animals being thus permitted to feed from the same crib. 
See note on page 412. 



424 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

(/i.) There are so many conveniences about corn in the 
ear, that it is no wonder the price is sometimes higher than 
that of shelled corn. Its position is much more easily changed ; 
it can be loaded on a car and dumped ; it can be piled up in 
bulk on a railroad car or canal boat; the ear is convenient as 
a measure for feeding or small sales ; its quality can be better 
estimated, and it keeps better in masses, especially on sea- 
board. If grinding is wanted, the corn and cob meal may 
be preferred for some animals, and if the cob is not ground, 
it makes excellent fuel. The main objection to it is its bulki- 
ness; the weight is only one-fourth more than that of shelled 
corn; the latter is usually reckoned at fifty six lbs , the former 
at seventy pounds. 

In 1850, (see U. S. P. O ), fifty-six pounds was the standard 
weight of shelled corn in Vermont and Ohio, and the usual 
weight in Bristol Co. Mass., New Castle Co. Delaware, 
Buckingham and Amherst Cos. Virginia, and Iberville, 
Louisiana. Gourd seed corn in Delaware weighed from forty- 
nine to fifty two pounds, the more common kinds in Halifax 
Co. N. C. from fifty three to fifty-four lbs., the best variety, 
fifty-six lbs. Some estimates of the weight in Vermont and 
Pennsylvania were fifty-eight lbs , and in Massachusetts sixty 
lbs. Upland corn in Ohio over weighs that raised in the 
bottom. In 1853, in Vermillion Co Illinois, the season being 
good, the weight of a crop, fifty to sixty-five bushels to an acre, 
was estimated at from sixty to sixty-three lbs. per bushel; a 
crop of one hundred and thirty-six bushels to an acre in New 
Hampshire weighed seventy lbs. in the ear and fifty-nine lbs. 
shelled and dried. Another New Hampshire farmer found 
that on January 16, 1854, a bushel of shelled corn thoroughly 
dried weighed fifty-nine lbs., the result of shelling a bushel 
in the ear weighing sixty-eight lbs. 

Shelling was formerly done in Southern Europe by scraping 
or rasping on a piece of iron ; in Southern France the ban- 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 425 

die of a frying pan was sometimes stretched across a tub and 
made fast at the ends by two notches. The operator scraped 
the ear lengthwise on the sharpest edge of the iron till the 
grain separated from the cob and fell into the tub, and a dili- 
gent man with strong wrists would shell from twenty to thirty 
bushels per day. A lot of husked ears in a sack might be 
thrashed out with a flail, and of unhusked ears sent through 
a thrashing machine by slightly modifying its arrangements. 
Loudon describes a shelling machine as composed of a 
vertical wheel covered with iron on one side, made rough 
by punctures; the wheel working in a trough and sepa- 
rating the grain by rubbing the ears thrown in by hand, one 
at a time, and while the separated grain passes through a 
funnel below, the naked cob is brought up at the end of the 
wheel opposite that at which it was put in. The wheel may 
be made rough either on both sides or on one side, according 
to the quantity of work to be done and the force to be applied. 

In America corn has been beat out in barrels, and scraped 
off the edge of a spade or bayonet, but of late corn shellers 
in such abundance and variety have been introduced, that 
the shelling of corn often adds little or nothing to its value. 
Some of them clean as well as shell. See note on page 412. 

(/.) From what has been said herein on the uses of maize, 
the importance to the farmer of good corn mills will be ap- 
parent. These are largely manufactured in the cities, and 
the prices range from $10 upward. 

Grain was first pounded between two stones, afterwards 
broken between an immovable nether stone and an upper 
stone moved by hand, — the Hebrew and Greek mill, worked 
first by slaves and criminals and afterwards by asses. Water 
mills were used by the Romans. Buhrstone is the preferred 
material for modern mills, but sienite and granite are often 
worked into corn mills. The lower stone is fixed and is 
slightly convex ; the upper one, somewhat concave, is sup- 
36 



426 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

ported by an axis passing through the lower one and re- 
volving with considerable velocity; the distance between the 
two being adjustable for producing fine or coarse meal. The 
corn is shaken out of the hopper by projections from the re- 
volving axis, which give to its lower part a vibrating motion. 
The corn entering at the middle of the stone, passes outward 
a short distance before it begins to be ground, and when 
powdered, its escape at the circumference is favored by the 
centrifugal force and the convexity of the lower stone. The 
surface of the stone is cut in grooves running obliquely to 
make it act more effectively on the corn. Iron mills have 
been extensively used of late. One advertised in Ohio Ag!. 
Report for 1870, claims to have new features in the make of 
grinding plates. The teeth are all formed like the letter Y • 
the lower part of each tooth in its row connecting with the 
upper part next below, and so on through the whole series in 
each radiating row in the next circle. By this arrangement 
and shape of the teeth, the pulverized stuff in the mill is 
forced as well as ground towards the periphery or discharging 
edges, whether the motion is fast or slow. The mill grinds 
faster as the motion is increased. 

(y.) The cost of cultivating corn varies mainly with value 
of land, price of applied manure, and labor of man and 
horses, or oxen, and interest on investments in cultivating and 
harvesting implements. The fairest way of reckoning it is by 
the acre, for the fodder, a very important item, is thus easily 
included. Where it is estimated by the bushel, the actual 
value of the fodder should be deducted from the total cost 
per acre. As the corn crop, when manured broadcast, 
generally leaves a portion not taken up, only part of its ap- 
plied value ought to be charged to the corn. The cost of 
cultivation is probably greater in the East and other long 
settled districts than in the new lands of the \Vest. In the 
East it costs nearly the same labor to get a small crop as a 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 427 

large one. Among the various amounts given in by corres- 
pondents of the U. S P. O. in 1849-50, is that of forty-five cents 
per bushel for Indian Corn production, including interest on 
land, taxes, fencing, and all other charges, (Vermont); twenty- 
two cents for Atkinson, Maine , twenty cents for Jeffer- 
son Co , N. Y, ; eighteen and one-half cents for New Castle 
Co., Delaware, forty cents, Amherst Co., Va.; nineteen and 
one-half cents, Wayne Co., Michigan; thirteen cents, including 
interest on land for a crop of forty five bushels in Hillsdale 
Co , Mich ; fourteen cents for Delaware Co , Ohio ; ten cents 
for Newport, Indiana. 

The estimate of the Shakers at Worcester, Mass., in U. S. P. 
O. 1853, (stiff clay, &c ), was for plowing in September, four 
dollars; twenty five loads of compost, thirty dollars; cross 
plowing in spring, planting, and twice hoeing, seven dollars; 
in all forty-one dollars for one acre, crop thirty-five to filty 
bushels, making from one dollar and seventeen cents to 
eighty-two cents per bushel. Compare this with the state- 
ment of Wm. J, Phelps of Peoria, Illinois, for same year. 
Preparing ground, one dollar, planting, twenty-five cents, 
cultivating, one dollar and a half, husking and cribbing, one 
dollar and twenty-five cents, in all four dollars for one acre; 
the usual crop of sixty bushels making the cost less than seven 
cents per bushel. In 1868, in Worcester Co , Mass., on one 
acre was spent twenty-seven dollars for manure, twenty-two 
dollars and fifty cents for other cost; the product being one 
hundred and eleven and one half bushels, made forty four 
and one third cents per bushel; three tons of stover should 
be deducted from the cost per acre. In the same year a 
crop in Auglaize Co., Ohio, on one acre was eighty-one 
bushels, six lbs , the cost being eight dollars, less than ten 
cents per bushel. 

An account from one of the old slave States (Delaware, 
1849,) makes plowing one dollar; harrowing, twenty cents; 



428 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

seed, eight cents; marking, fifteen cents; husking, one dollar 
twelve and one half cents-, shelling, fifty cents ; hauhng, one 
dollar ; interest on land, four dollars and eighty cents ; 
checkering, fifteen cents; planting, nineteen and one-half 
cents ; working, one dollar and twenty cents; cutting, thirty- 
seven and one-half cents; in all, ten dollars and seventy-seven 
and one-half cents ; deducting fodder, one dollar and a half, 
leaves nine dollars, twenty-seven and one-half cents per acre, 
or eighteen and one half cents per bushel. 

In 187 1, (see U. S. A. R.), crops were raised at Knights- 
town, Ind., costing twenty and three fifths cents; at North 
Fairfield, Ohio, twenty-two and one-third cents, by J. C. Bur- 
roughs of Illinois, twenty-seven cents ; at Chester Co. Pa , 
twenty-five and one half cents; at Oneida Lake, N. Y., forty- 
five cents per bushel. 

(/:.) The shrinkage of corn has been referred to under the 
head of varieties. Experienced farmers in Southern Ohio 
say corn loses in weight or measure considerably by being 
kept till spring. Four lbs. from fall to spring is the better 
estimate; that is, ear corn in the fall weighs seventy-two lbs , 
in the spring, sixty-eight One makes it seventy lbs before 
first of February, sixty-eight lbs. after. Some weight is lost 
from worm eating as well as shrinkage. 

(/) For soiling and fodder, corn is sometimes sown broad- 
cast, two or three bushels to an acre, but as this may result in 
too much shade, the following method practiced a few years 
ago on soil in good heart near a barn, well plowed and har- 
rowed and sown from large southern varieties, with good re- 
suits, may be safely recommended : 

Batchelder's corn planter was set to drop hills one foot apart ; 
the machine was then run backwards and forwards as near 
rows already planted as possible, without actually interfering 
wifh them ; the planted field was then well rolled. The corn 
came up finely. On sixth of August, an average stalk was 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 429 

cut from one of the rows where the tassel was just in sight 
and found to weigh three and a half lbs. , subsequently cured 
it weighed one lb. If there was one such stalk on each foot 
there would be seventy-six tons (of 2,000 lbs. each,) to acre 
of green stalks. Probably ten tens to the acre of dry fodder 
could be obtained from land so conditioned. 

Mr. Temple Cutler of Massachusetts, (U. S. P. O. 1849-50) 
stated that the corn might be sown in drills or broadcast, so 
as always to have a crop in the proper stage for soiling cattle. 

Mr. Waring, an eastern agriculturist, is quoted in U. S. A. 
R. 1871, as recommending the sowing of corn for fodder in 
drills three feet apart, so that they may be worked with a 
cultivator. 

Mr. L. S. Abbott, of Painesville, Ohio, in U. S. A. R, 1866, 
prefers the broadcast sowing as giving the greatest yield. He 
objects to the drill sowing, worked by the cultivator, as 
making the stalks too coarse to be entirely eaten up by the 
stock- Their coarseness depends somewhat on how thick the 
sowing is in the drills, and how tall the natural growth of the 
variety chosen ; and if, as some writers assert, the nutriment 
is richer in stalks, the lower parts of which have a better 
exposure to the sun, the cattle will probably contrive to mas- 
ticate them. But in this they may be assisted by fodder cut- 
ters, provided for the purpose, the pieces for obvious reasons 
being cut not less than two inches long. Mr. Abbott gives 
as the possible product, ten tons per acre as the estimate of 
good judges, and in quality, very much better than hay, and 
relished by all kinds of stock. As it is generally sown to 
supply the deficiency of the grass crop late in tlie summer, 
its necessity for this purpose can be determined before the first 
of June, which is early enough for sowing the corn. He 
thinks it maybe sown much later with good results, and that 
sown even in mid-August, during the summer drought, the 
corn will tassel before the autumnal frosts, in the latitude of 



430 IXDIAX COKy AXn ITS fULTL'KE. 

Northern Ohio. He would sow three and a half bushels to 
the acre. The difficulty about the time of sowing is in curing 
the fodder late in the fall, when the long, cold rains so often 
stand in the way of proper harvesting; the abundance of 
saccharine matter in the stalks requiring several consecutive 
days of good drying weather. If the farmer's chief reliance 
for fodder is on sowed com, he should sow in good season, 
so that there may be no *' weather contingency at curing 
time." "When the corn is stoat, the burden on the ground 
is very large, and when the season has been attended with 
heavy wind storms, the corn will be twirled and twisted round 
and sometimes badly; just in proportion to this will the cutting 
be laborious." For doing this work promptly, a cradle with 
short strong fingers has been made; for binding it needs five 
or six days of warm bright weather to wilt it sufficiently; 
small bundles are best, put up in shocks of medium size, tied 
at top. 

Some farmers after thorough wilting, stack it in alternate 
layers with straw. A foundation high enough for proper 
airing beneath, is made by crossing timbers, the material is 
then stacked round a box drawn up as the stack is elevated. 
Korses fed on this kind of fodder never have the heaves, and 
cattle foddered with it mixed with some sweet turnips, have 
a sleek and bright appearance. In the far South this kind of 
fodder should be the main dependence of the farmer for 
feeding his stock ; the genial autumns, long drawn out, being 
cmmently favorable to the curing process. Texas grows corn, 
very much better than the grass suited for haymaking; the 
special fodder crop is, of course, very desirable there. ' 

A farmer in Ontario Co. New York, (see U. S. A. R. 1S69), 
on a field duly prepared, sowed oats broadcast, the usual 
amount, and afterwards drilled in corn, in the proportion 
of three bushels of corn to one of oats. They grew very 
evenly together. Some installments were cut for immediate 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTDUE. 431 

use for the general harvesting, but when the oats were ripe, 
the crop was cut like grass. The dry oatstraw then ab- 
sorbed ths moisture of the cornstalks; the whole was easily 
cured. Horses and cattle ate it greedily. 

An extended article on the green soiling of stock, including 
the culture of corn fodder, by D. S. Curtis, of Madison, Wis- 
consin, will be found in U. S. P. O., 1859. 

(;« ) In conclusion, among the many things important to 
be considered by the young maize grower, who desires per- 
manent success, it may be well to allude especially to three: 

ist. The relation of maize growing to the culture of other 
crops, even when the operations are conducted on the most 
limited scale. It will be found that a reasonable attention to 
other cultures will make the success of the year's crop more 
certain. A good grass field especially, is one of the best 
preparations for the maize crop. Nature has already pro- 
vided this on the prairies; the best grass sod on soil fre^h 
from timber is made by judicious pasturage. The season may. 
\ favor the maize crop one year, and be adverse another year, 
when some other crop is favored. Insects or other enemies 
may prove ruinous to the most carefully cultivated maize 
field, and leave some other growths uninjured. 

2d. While it is important to aim at producing the fullest 
crops, it is far better to manage so as to make them better 
and better from year to year, than to begin with largest crops 
and run down to small ones. The young corn grower whose 
prudence leads him to choose methods suited to his circ um- 
stances and location, which give the most certain promise of 
a fair crop, will be most apt to go on improving. If he has 
too high expectations of first results, the chances are that he 
may be disappointed, and lose the stimulus given by a first 
success. 

3d. Keeping out of debt has been proved by the experi- 
ence of late years to be one of the best helps to permanent 



432 INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

success in this as well as other cultures. Strong and durable 
fences rather than showy ones, buildings that will last and 
that will secure the crops of the farm and accommodate its 
occupants, and at the same time please by a reasonable share 
of architectural beauty; domestic animals of good breed that 
can be well fed; implements whose use is well understood, 
sufficient for the most thorough culture, and good land, but 
not more of it than can be well tilled, and not enough of it 
to involve the purchaser in hopeless or embarrassing debt — 
in short, all things in proportion — with good habits, patriotic 
motives and unselfish aims, are among the best guarantees 
of good times a coming. 




IHCIAN CORS AND ITS CULTURE. 433 



Broom Corn. 



As the culture of Broom Corn has some similarity to that 
of maize, a few statements in regard to it from the U. S. P. O., 
and U. S. A. Reports are subjoined : 

U. S. P. O. 1854. E. Smith of Sunderland, Franklin Co. 
Mass. states that in the previous fall and winter he drew 
to a lot twenty cords of muck, mixed with five and one-half 
cords of sheep manure; in April the whole was turned over 
and mixed, and eighteen bushels of ashes added. About 
May ist, it was turned over a second time, and on the 15th 
of May harrowed in, and planted with Woodward's corn 
planter, and one hundred lbs. of superphosphate of lime put 
in the hills. The land was cultivated and hoed four times, 
and there was taken from it by estimation, eight hundred lbs. 
of brush to the acre. Broom Corn had been grown on the 
land the two previous years. Crop raised on an acre and 
nine rods, of brush, 1,025 lbs., and seed, sixty-seven bushels, 
weighing forty lbs. to the bushel. 

Value of 1,025 lbs. brush at 10 cts. 
Value of sixty-seven bushels of seed, - 

Expense of plowing, harrowing and planting, 
Manure, ...--- 
Hoeing, ..... 

Harrowing, scraping, and cleaning seed, 
Interest on Land, - . . - 

Net Profits, ..... $90 80 

S. G. Hamlin, West Glenville, Schenectady Co. N. Y. The 
chief objection to growing on upland is, that it makes no 
fodder or manure, except the stalks, which are of little im- 
portance either as a fertilizer or feed. They are generally 
consumed in the field after the brush is taken off. The usual 
method of cultivation is to plow the land in spring, harrow 







$102 50 
26 80 


$2 


50 


$129 30 


12 


00 






7 


00 






10 


00 






7 


00 


38 


J2 



434 ISDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTURE. 

till the soil is pulverized and mellow, and then roll down 
smooth with revolving plank or log roller. The seed is sown 
in the spring as early as the condition of the ground will 
admit, in rows about three feet apart, and six to eight inches 
in the drills. Soon as the corn is above ground, a narrow space 
of land on each side of the rows is scraped with a hoe to pre- 
vent the weeds from hindering its growth; the remaining 
space is left for the cultivator, which is frequently run to keep 
down weeds. The cultivation is usually finished by running 
the plow twice to each row. The brush is cut while green, 
and as often as convenient. As it grows from eight to twelve 
feet high, the tops are first bent or lopped to one side and cut 
with seven or eight inches of stalk left onj each stalk com- 
poses a brush. 

M. F. Meyer, of Kingston, Luzerne Co, Pa , states that 
broom corn was raised on river flats and was a profitable crop. 
The average yield of seed was fifty bushels to the acre, worth 
fifty cents per bushel. He had known eighty-five dollars an 
acre to be paid for the crop before harvesting. 

U. S. A. R. 1868, reviewing the State E.eports of Missouri 
Agriculture, states that the bottom lands of Missouri are 
suited to its growth. Land producing a rapid and tall growth 
of Indian Corn, will grow good broom corn. A growth of 
head of from twelve to eighteen inches is the most profitable 
crop for manufacturers; yet for "hurl," or those brooms made 
from the brush, without using any of the stalk under the 
wire, which are the most desirable brooms, a growth of twenty 
to twenty-four inches is necessary. An average crop is about 
one-fourth of a ton per acre, worth about one hundred and 
fifty dollars per ton. The seed is almost equal to oats for all 
kinds of stock, averaging forty bushels to the acre, worth 
thirty dollars; total product of the acre, $67 50; labor not 
more than required for an acre of Indian Corn. The price 
of brush depends on supply and demand. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CULTUEE. 



435 



lilV. 

Bxishels in Maize crop of U. S.for 1875; Average yield per acre; No. of acres planted ; Avrmgcprice 

per bushel and total value. No. of Swine Jan'y 1876, averageprice and valtie of sanu. 
(From United States Agricultural Report, 1875.) 



States. 



Maine , 

New Hampshire 

Vermont ^. 

Massachusetts... 
Bhode Island... 

Connecticut 

New York 

New Jersey 

Pennsylvania ... 

Delaware 

Maryland 

Virginia 

North Carolina.. 
South Carolina.. 

Georgia 

Florida 

Alabama 

Mississippi 

Louisiana 

Texas 

Arkansas 

Tennessee 

West Virginia 

Kentucky 

Ohio 

Michigan- 

Indiana 

Illinois 

Wisconsin , 

Minnesota 

Iowa 

Missouri 

Kansas 

Nebraska , 

California , 

Oregon 

Nevada , 

Territories , 



Corn 
Bushels. 



Yield 
Av. 

Bush 



1,300,000 

1,650,000 

1,720,000 

1,620.000 
290,000 

l,775,tX)0 
19,750,000 

9,000,000 
44.000,000 

3,267 000 
14,200,000 
21,333.000 
22,275,000 

9,240,000 
20.100,000 

2,150,000 
24,500,000 
23,220,000 

7,920,000 
31,000,000 
19,448,000 
58,000,000 
10,560,0f;0 
00,200,000 
95,000,000 
23,600,000 
95,000,000 
280,000,000 
15,200,000 

7,340,000 

160,000,000 

128,000,000 

76,700,000 

28,000,000 

1,.500,000 
96,000 
15,000 

1,500,000 



Totals 1,321,069,000 29.4 44,841,.371 



30.5 

38 

37 

37 

27.5 

29 

34 

41 

40 

26 

30 

22 

15 

10.2 

10 

10 

12.6 

18 

15.5 

20 

30 

26.5 

29.1 

33 3 

34.5 

33 

34 

34.3 

21 

29.2 

35 

30.6 

40 

40 

36 3 

26.5 

29 

26 



Acres. 



Av. 

Price. 



. 42 622 

43 421 

46,486 

43,783 

10,545 

61,206 

580,882 

234,146 

1,100,000 

125.653 

473,333 

969,681 

1,485,000 

905,882 

2,010,000 

215,000 

1,944,444 

1,290,000 

510,967 

1,550 000 

648,266 

2,188,679 

362,886 

1,807,807 

2.753,623 

715,151 

2,794,117 

8,163,265 

723,809 

251,369 

4,571,428 

3,497,207 

1,917,.500 

700,000 

41,322 

3,622 

517 

57,692 



80 96 
94 
94 
95 

1 10 

1 00 
74 
65 
58 
57 
55 
54 
CO 

1 00 
86 

1 08 



89 
83 
52 
41 
56 
41 
44 
61 
39 
34 
54 
42 
27 
28 
23 
20 
1 07 
91 
1 08 
1 02 



Value. 



$1,248,000 

1,551,000 

1,616,800 

1,539,000 

319,000 

1,775,000 

14,615,000 

6,240,000 

25,520,000 

1,862,190 

7,810,000 

11,519,820 

13,365,000 

9,240,000 

17,286,000 

2,.322,000 

18,375,000 

16,718,400 

7,048,800 

25,730,000 

10,112,960 

23,780 000 

5,913,600 

24,682,000 

41,800 000 

14,.S96,000 

37.050,000 

95,200,000 

8,208,000 

3,082,800 

43,200,000 

35,840,000 

17,641,000 

5,600,000 

1,605,000 

87,360 

16,200 

1,530,000 



No. 
Swine. 



58,800 

37,300 

51,800 

75,600 

16,300 

57,900 

568,700 

153,000 

875,000 

46,700 

2.33,500 

589,800 

758,300 

275.900 

1,360,700 

175,400 

755,900 

792 900 

222,600 

1,090,000 

901,200 

1,026.400 

248,400 

1,604..300 

1,596,100 

459,700 

2,136,000 

2,640.100 

540,700 

213,400 

3,296,200 

1,874,300 

246,500 

80,900 

363,300 

181,500 

5,200 

116.500 



$ 42 $555,445,930 |25, 726,800 



Av. 

Price 



811 66 

16 20 

12 19 
18 03 

17 05 
16 73 
11 39 

13 83 
11 50 
10 61 

7 10 
4 45 
4 01 
4 11 
3 91 

2 26 

3 99 

4 31 

3 98 

4 09 

3 31 

5 22 
5 38 

5 51 

8 06 
7 93 

7 70 

8 63 

7 58 

6 99 

8 08 
5 94 

8 91 

7 58 
7 17 

4 41 

9 (10 



86 80 



Value. 



8G85,60S 

604,200 

631,442 

1,363,068 

277,915 

968,667 

6,477,193 

2,115,990 

10,062,,500 

495,487 

1,657,850 

2,624,610 

3,0-40,783' 

1,133.949 

5,320,337 

.396,404 

3,016,041 

3,417,399 

88.5,918 

4,458,100 

3,523,692 

5,3.57,808 

1,336 392 

8 839,693 

12,864.566 

3,645.421 

16,447,200 

22,784,063 

4,098,506 

1,491,666 

26,633,295 

11,1.33,342 

2,196,315 

613,222 

2,604 861 

800,415 

46,800 

1,019,375 



75,070,484 



(From United States Agricultural Report, 1875.) 
Movements of Indian Com (bushels,) in the principal Cities of United States for the yearn : 





1873. 


1874. 


1875. 




Receipts. 


Shipments- 


Receipts, 


Shipments. 


Receipts. 


Shipments. 




24,576,345 
3,558,363 
8,233,400 
8,330,449 
2,259,544 

38,157,232 

921.391 

7,701,187 


13,416,787 

162,729 

2.202,308 

6,003,618 

324,183 

36,754,943 

197,920 

5,200,916 


29,329,000 
3,303,641 
5,954,700 
9,355,467 
3.457,164 

35.799,6;« 
1,313,642 
6,991,677 


26,447,807 
380,254 


22,488.707 
5,346 340 
5,950.800 
9,567,141 
3 695,561 

28,341,150 

919,605 

6,710,263 


12,955,525 




1,.551.776 


Philadelphia ».. 


4,601 586 


5,959,757 

658,718 

32,705,224 

556.563 

4,148,556 


6,9S0 802 




595 915 




20,443,884 


Milwaukee 

St. Louis 


226,085 
3,523,974 







i30 



INDIAN COU.N AND ITS CULTURE. 



Hogs packed dwriiig the four last winter packing 
seasoTis at six leading points in the West, crimparcd 
with the ivholc. U.S.A. R. 1875, & Cin'ti Gazette. 



C:iTIES. 1872-73. 1873-74. 1874-75. 1875-76. 




Sum'r Pnck'd 
Win'r Pack'd 



Amount of regular packing in the seaboard 
Cities is so small, that no attempt has been 
made in those cities to collect regular statistics. 
The facilities aflbrded in the East are not such 
as to enable packers to compete with the West. 



Ohio Statistics, 1877. 

No. of Hogs packed for the two 
winter seasons following in Ohio. 



Circleville 

Cleveland 

Cincinnati 

Dayton 

Kenton 

Lima 

Minster 

New Bremen... 
New Vienna.,.. 

Piqua 

Riple" 

Toledo 

Wash' ton 0. H. 

Wilmington 

Xenia 

All other points 



Total , 



1875-76. I 1876-77. 



15,339 
88.077 
563,309 
5,000 
5,200 
5,339 
7.300 
7,250 



6,000 
6,000 
4,317 
20,165 
15,600 
17,582 
56,407 



822,935 



15,942 

121,202 

523,576 

5,000 

5,300 

7,062 

6,200 

7,125 

5,500 

5,000 

5,.500 

12,369 

15,000 

7,000 

16,000 

55.933 



813,709 



Total number of Hogs cut in Cincinnati, each winter packing season for the foUowing 
years. [See Ohio Statistics for 1873. 1877, U. S. A. R. 1.87.5. &c.] 



Year."i. 


No. 


Years. 


No. 


Years. 


No. 


Years. 


No. 


1832-33 


85,000 


1842-43...... 


250,000 


1852-53 


361,000 


1862-63 


608,457 


1833-34 


123,000 


1843-44 


240,000 


1853-54 


421,000 


1863-64 


370,623 


1834-35 


162,000 


1844-45 


196,000 


1854-55 


3.55,786 


1864-65 


350,600 


1835-36 


123,000 


1845-46 


205,000 


1855-56 


405,396 


1865-66 


3.54,079 


1836-37 


103,000 


1846-47 


250.000 


1856-57 


344,512 


1866-67 


462,610 


1837-38 


182,000 


1847-48 


475,000 


1857-58 


446,677 


1867-68 


366,831 


1838-39 


90,000 


1848-49 


410,000 


1858-59 


382,826 


1868-09 


356,555 


1839-40 


95,000 


1849-50 


393,000 


1859-60 


434,499 


1869-70 


337,330 


1840-41 


160,000 


1850-51 


334.000 


1860-61 


433,799 


1870-71 


481,.560 


1841-42 


220,000 


1851-52 


852,000 


1861-62 .... 


474.467 


1871-72 


630,301 



The Ohio Statistics for 1876 aive the winter packing for 1875-76, at points not 
mentioned aoove, packing ten thnnsnnd or over. 



CITIES. 


No. 


Cities. 


No. 


1 Cities. 


No. 




87,991 

84,390 

75,968 
74,500 
52,239 
50,542 
40,068 
32 410 
32,3.=.5 
29,7.50 
27,633 


Council Bluffs, la 

Galena, Ills 

Richmond, Ind... 

Omaha, Neb 

Madison, Ind 

St. Paul, Minn.... 

Barry, Ills 

Gosport, Ind 


26,410 , 

25,000 : 

22,700 

18.025 ' 

16,046 

16,000 

15,3ti0 

15,000 

14,000 

13,200 ! 

12,544 


Frankliu Ind 

Greeusburg, Ind. 
Pekin, Ills 


12 678 


St. Joseph Mo. \ 

& vicinity (" 

Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 
Kansas City, Mo 


12,394 
12 000 


Washington, Mo 
New tastle, Ind. 
Hagerstown, Ind 
Evansville, Ind.. 
Burlington, Iowa 
Davenport, Iowa 


12,000 
11,734 
11 400 


Dubuque, Iowa 

Dos .\loines, Iowa... 
Detroit, Mich 


11.000 
10.665 
10. ,572 




Terre Hante, Ind 
Springfield, Ills... 


Bowl'g Green, Ky 10.320 


Keokuk, Iowa 

Ottumwa, Iowa 


Leavenworth, Ks 


10,033 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS CDLTURE. 



437 






Potatoes, $84,150,040, 



Barley, S29,809 931. 



Rj-e, S-28,683,fi" 



Rye, 1,651,321 



Potatoes, 1,131,552 
Buckwheat, 1,113;993 



Buckwheat, 820,814,315. 



Barley, 937,498 



Potatoes, 
106.090.000 



Rye, 22,504.800 



Barley. 22.896.100 



Buckwheat, 19.aH3.700 



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DOMESTIC EXPORTS 


1 


1866 1S67 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 


Of Corn tiiiii Corn Meal, from U. S., 
in dollars, for tho years 1860 to 1876, 
inclusive ; the ti^'ures on each side, 
from 20 to 28 representing millioos ; 
the letters on the year line stand for 
(a) Exports to England, Scotland 
and Ireland. (6)— To Canada and 
IJritish North American Possessions, 
and daring the last years described 
as Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Que- 


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& Labrador, (c)— To Br. W. Indies, 
1 louduras & Guiana, (ci)— To Danish 
W. Indies, T) 
514 ■millions to inch. ^ • 


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$20,000,000 " 

818,000.000 

510,000,000 

614,000,000 

$12,000,000 

810,000,000 

88,000,000 

80,000,000 

84,000,000 

82,000,000 


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1800 ISCl 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 18"0 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 



TABLES. 



Page. 

I— Heat Producing or Nonazotized Compounds ^ »....». 15 

II — Flesh Forming, or Azotized Proximates 15 

III— Composition of Proteine 16 

IV— Elements of Maize, From Sundry Analyses 18 

V — Elements of Indian Corn, Wheat, Rye, Oats, Buckwheat, Peas, 
Rice, Cabbage, Meadow Hay, Clover, Wheat and ^Pea Straws 

and Potatoes; From Sundry Analyses 19 

VI— Four Analyses of Ash of Indian Corn, one each Ash of Wheat, 

Rye and Gate ~ 20 

VII— Analyses of Maize. and Wheat Straws and Ash 21 

VlII — U. S. Acreage of Improved Land, Maize Product, Bushels of 
Maize to Acre of Improved Land; Population, and Bushels of 
Maize produced to each inhabitant in years 1850, 1860 and 1870, 40 
IX— Bushels of Maize Produced in the several U. S. and Territories, 

in 1840, '50, '60, '70. with Yield per Acre in 1850..- 42 

X— Number of Swine in the several U. 8., Ac, in years 1840, '50, '60 

and '70. Census with Additional Returns for 18C0 45 

XI— Estimates of Maize Product by the Agricultural Division of U. S. 

Patent Office in the States, &c.. for years 1S42, '43, '44, '47 & '48 47 
Xn— Estimates of Maize Product by Agricultural Department of U. S. 

in the INon-seceding States in years 1862, '63, '64 and '65 _. 50 

XIII— Estimates of Maize Acreage, Value of Crop, Bushels per Acre 
and Average Price in Non-seceding States, in years 1862, '63, 

'64 and '65, From U. S. Agricultural Department - 53 

XIV— Estimated Maize Product from IT. S. Agl. Reports, Expressed In 

Thousands, from 1867 to 1874 in the States, &c 57 

XV— Estimated Acres from same in the States from 1866 to 1874 68 

XVI— Estimated Yield per Acre, and Average Price of Maize in the 

SUtes, Ac, (U. S. A. R.), from 1866 to 1874 61 

XVII— Estimated Value of Maize Crops in the States, (U. S. A. R.) 1866 

to 1874 62 

XVIII— Estimated Number of Swine with Price and Value (U. S. A. R.) 

in the Loyal States, Jan'y, '64 and '65, and Peb'y '66 68 

XIX— Same in Thirty-five States in Feb'y, '67, '68 and "69 69 

XX— Same in the States and Territories in Feb'y '70, '71 and '72 70 

XXIa— Same in Jan'y, 1876 _ 71 

XXI6— Acreage and Product of Indian Corn in Ohio Counties for 1862 
and 1872, and yield per Acre, Average from 1847 to 1866. and 
for 1872 72 and 73 

XXII»-Monthlv Prices Of Maize, Meal and Hog Products, at New York 
and Baltimore, from Dec, 1S09 to May, 1S12. Averaged from 
Quotations in the New York Spectator and Baltimore Wliig... 78 

XXIII— Monthly Prices of Indian Corn at Njvv Orleans from Sept. 1843 

to Aug. 1848, inclusive 93 

XXrV— Comparative Prices of Maize nt St. Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati, 
Buffalo and New York for the four quarters of 1848, from U. S. 
P. 0. Report, 1848 «... 94 

441 



442 TABLES. 

Page, 
XXV -Monthly Prices of Indian Corn at New York City, from 18C4 to 

1873, from U. S. Report on Commerce 95 

XX VI— Monthly Prices of Cornmeal at same f i om '64 to '73, (U. S. R. Com.) 93 
XXVII— Monthly Prices of Mess Pork at same from '61 to '73, (U. S. R. Com.) 9G 
XXVIII— Monthly Prices of Pickled Hams at same from '64 to '73, (U. S. R. 

Com) • 93 

XXIX-Monthly Prices of Pickled Shoulders at same from '64 to '73, (U. 

S R. Com.) 97 

XXX— Monthly Prices of Western Lard at same from '64 to '73, (U. S. K. 

Com.^ -... 97 

XXXI— Quarterly Prices at Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis, selected 

from U. S. A. R., of Maize and Mess Pork, for '69, '70 and '71 103 

XXXII— May and June Prices at Boston, New Orleans and San Francisco, 

&c., of Corn and Hog Products, for 1876 105 

XXXIII— Domestic E.xports of U. S. Com, Meal and Hog Products, from 

Oct. 1, 1789, to Sept. 30, 1820, (Ssybcrt&c) - 109 

XXXIV— Domestic Exports of U. S, Indian Corn, Meal and Hog Products, 
from 1821 to Sept. SO, 1812 ; for 9 months to June 30, '43, and 

after, to June 30, '53, (U. S. P. O., '53) 113 

XXXV— U. S. Exports, Indian Corn and Meal from 1851 to 1861, inclusive, 116 
XXXVI— Exports, Produce of U. S. to Foreign Ports, Corn, Meal and Hogs 

from 1862 to 1875, inclusive, (U. S. R. Com., &c.) 117 

XXXVII— Swine Products of U. S. exported from '62 to 73, inclusive, (U. S. 

R. Com.) .." lis 

XXXVIII— Certain Varieties of Maize, seen in Museum of the Agricultural 

Department at Washington City, in 1876 163 

XXXIX— Other Varieties seen at same time la said Museum _ 164 

XL— Varieties of Maize mentioned in U. S. P. O. and Agricultural De- 
partments, as used in the places described 165 

XLI— Organic Analysis, by Dr. Jackson, of Wyandotte, Tuscarora, King 

Piii.ip and Gourdseed Varieties, (U. S. P. O., '57.) 166 

XLII— Analyses of Ashes of Cobs of Sweet Corn and other varieties 169 

XLIII— Dr. Salisbury's Org.anic Analyses of Golden Sioux, Ohio Dent, 

White Flint and large and small 8 rowed _ 170 

XLIV— Dr. Salisbury's Analyses of Ash of Kernels, Leaves and Cob,'White 

Flint 170 

XLV— Weight of 7 Varieties of Maize; ear at husking (fall of 1871) and 
shelling; of shelled, Jan. 2 & 3, '72 and other items as to shrink- 
age 174 

XLVI— Elements of A.sh of Leaves at difTcrent stages of maize growth 191 

XLVII— Elements of Maize Grain, growing, Aug. SO, Sept. 13, Oct. 18 197 

XLVIII— f;cn»us Statislics of distilled Liquors in U. S., 1850, '60, '70 231 

XLIX— Census Statistics of Starch made in U. S., 1850, 'GO and '70 232 

L— Analysis of Domestic Manures produced in 24 hours 357 

lil— Elements of Ash of Manures from horse, ox, swine and man 358 

LII— Prof. Norton's Analyses of Bolivian, Peruvian, (.'hilian and Ich- 

aboo Guanos — 366 

Lin— Percent, of Nitrogen and Bons Phosphates in Peruvian and Fish 

Guanos, bone dust and bones (minus glue) 370 

LIV— Product and Yield per Acre, Acreage, Average Price and Value 
of Maize for 1875; Bwine, Prices and Value Jan'y 1876, in the 
respective U. S 435 



INDEX. 



Page. 

Abbott on Sowed Corn 429, 430 

Absorbente of Liquid Manures, &c. 351 

Absorbing Power of Soils 254 

Acids 252, 313. 314, 316, 338 

Carbonic, Chloric, Nitric 313 

Chloiohydric. Oxalic. Tartaric... SZl 

Phosphoric, Silicic. Sulphuric 313 

Vegetable 258, 2C7 

Acre of Corn ; Cost of 426 

Acreage of Maize 39. 59, GO, 66 67 

In Ohio 72 73 

la different United States-see Tables. 

Adams, Variety of Maize 208 

Advice to Europeans; Author of, on 

Fish Diet 365 

Africa; Maize in 34. 36 

.Southern Plains of 260, 261 

Afterculture of Maize 407 to 419 

Agricultural College of Wisconsin, 

Experiments 174 

Convention of Presidentsof Coun- 
ty (Ohio) Boards of 265 

Department at Washington, 39, 
49, 50, 51 . 58, 56, 57, 58, 61, 62, 63, 

68, 69,70 173 

■Museum of Same 151, 163, 164, 

Alabama 46, 48, 50, 66, 63. 112, 177, 

243, 2.o9 369 

(For Crops, <fec., see Statistical Tables.) 

Alabama, (Privateer) 116 

Alaska 240 

Albania; Maize in 35 

Albany, N. Y 104. 213 

Albumen. 10, 11, 15, 17, 18, 166. 169 

171, 197 225 

Albuquerque, New Mexico; Kind 

of Maize in _ 1.55 

Crops &c 417 

Alcador 417 

Alcohol 167, 168, 229, 2.31 

AUi.son & Harkin's Patent 2.33 

Alkali 251, .^44. 351 

Allegheny Mountains, 237, 238, 241, 

243, 314 317 

Alleg-ieny Co , Pa 151 

Allen Co., Ohio.. 800 

Alumina 249,257,313, 316, 335 

I'hnaphate of 336 

Aluminum 335 

Aluminous Earths; Their Power of 

Absorption Sofi 

Ameliorutive < rops 273 

Amoriian Fann Book 136, 215 

American Farmer 304 



Page, 

American Friend 81 

American Plows 375 to 383, 385 

Republican, Boston, Mass 88 

Watchman, Wilmington, Del 82 

Ames Plow Co., Boston & N. York... 379 

Amherst Co.. Va..., 190,368, 4-.;7 

Ammonia, 10, 161, 249, 251, 254. 253, 

342, 348, 360 360 

Carbonate of 314 

Sulphvarate of 161 

Sulphateof 3i4 

Ammoniacal Salt 367 

Ammoniated Superphosphate of 

Lime 35S 

Analysis; general advantages and 

defects of la', 186 

Analysis by Berthier - 339 

Berzelius. 342 

Bou.ssingault 3;)7 

Davy ^ 16 

Haves & Jackson 161 

Horepath , 327 

Hruschauer 21 

Jackson 17, 157, 166, 167 16S 

Johnston 17 

Jones 15 

Letellier 2J 

Norton 338, 3C6 

Payen 16, 17 

Salisbury 17, 170, 181, 197, 225, 226 

8r-herer 15, 16 

Wolff 20 

As to Colors 161 

As to Soils, (U. S. Chemist) 254 

Of Ash of Indian Com, Wheat, 

Ivve and Oats 20 

Of WheatStraw 21 

Of Ash of Manures, Horse, Ox, 

Swine and Man 3-^5 

Anthracite Coal 3;?8 

Bituminous Coal .339 

Of Bones of Man, Ox, Pike and 

Whale 342 

Bone-dust and Bones after Loss 

of Glue 370 

Of Coprolites 327 

Of Flesh-Forming Elements 15 

Of Guanos; Bolivian, Chilian, 

Ichaboeand Peruvian .366 

Of Guanos, Fish and Peruvian.... 370 

BM 369 

Of Heat Producing Elements 15 

Of Indian Corn and Wheat (from 
U. S. P. 0. Reports) 18 



443 



411 



Pago. 
Analysis of Indian Com, Compared 
with Wheat, Eye, uats, Buck- 
wheat, Teas, Rice, Cabbage, 
Meadow Hay, Clover, Wheat 
and Pea Straws and Potatoes..., 19 

Of Indian Corn Cobs 168 

Ash of Indian Corn Cobs 169, 170 

Indian Corn Leaves, Ash of 170 

Of Indian Corn at Different Stages 

of Growth, Stalk and Root 181 

Of Grain...... 197 

Of Proteine 16 

Of Indian Cora Varieties 166 

Golden Sioux 18, 170 

Horse Tooth and King Philip 166 

Large Eight Rowed YeUow 170 

Ohio Dent 170 

Pop Corn ». 226 

Sweet Corn _ 225 

Small White Flint 18 

Small Eight Rowed 170 

Tuscarora 166, 226 

White Flint 170 

Wyandott 166, 167 

Andrew, Gov 43 

Andrew, John 304 

Antiseptic -343, 3ry2 

Aorta 13 

Apache Indians 210, 214, 215 

Apatite 321, 841 

A'poulet Variety 36 

Arabia 35 

Arctic Ocean ™— 238 

negions 38, 281 

Argentine Republic 123, 124 

Argillaceous Marls 253 

Arid Tracts of U. S 238 to 240 

Arizona 37, 43, 44, 139, 213, 240 

For Maize Product, «Scc., See Statis- 
tical Tables. 

Arkansas 43, 49, 50, 68 

Yellow Variety 150 

(See Tables.) 

Array Worm - 290, 291 

Artesian Wells 334 

Ash of Maize Analyzed 20, 21, 170 

Of Cobs and Leaves 169, 170 

Ash of Various Grains, Magnesia in 330 
Ashes for Manure, 325 332 337 338 346 S'.S 

Ashland Co., Ohio 189 

Asia; Maize in 34, 398 

Coast of 246 

J\<!ses Plowing 871, 373 

Assimilation S37 

Assyrians _ 268 

AtlantJi, Georgia 104 

Atlantic Ocean 2;i7 

Climate 144, 236,245, 246, 247, 252 

Slope _ 285, 332 

St*ites 259, 317 

Atmosphere; Composition of 9 

Changes of, Affecting Plants 256 

Distnrbances of 244 

Fertilizing 310, 311 

Height <fc Humidity of, &c. 235,242, 340 
Saltiness of, ou Coaet 80-1 



Page. 

Atoms Meeting 313 

Audubon on Pigeons 281 

Aughiize Co., Ohio 300, 427 

Auricles of the Heart 13 

Australia 117,121, 123, 124 

Australian Varieties, White & Blue 159 

Austria 35, 124, 216 

Austrian Journal on Maize 208 

Average Value of Maize Crop 63 

Azores 121 

Aztec Cooks 24 

Drainage 268 

Bacon, Prices 88, 89, 90 

Baden Corn 149, 151 

Bahama Islands 327 

Baker's Bread Compared with Maize 217 

Baker and Jarvis Isles 366 

BaldEagie 280 

Baltimore 127, 133 

Prices 76, 80 

Inspection of Maize and Meal 131 

Exports 133 

Hogs Packed 1848 to 1850 132 

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad 86 

Baltimore Whig 76 

Baldwin Co., Georgia 261 

Baibary States; Maize In 86 

Barley 34, 35, 239, 274, 275, 277, 278 

Barlow, Joel 215 

Barn-(;ellar 362, 360 

Barnstable Co , Mass 353 

Barn-vard and Cattle-yard, 176, 351, 357 
And Stable Manure. ..294, 298, 325, 3f8 

Barrens _ 1:97 

Bartholomew Co., Ind 2T6 

Bartlett, John S 216 

Bartlett, Levi 346 

Basalt, (containing Potash) 332, 341 

Basesof Salts 313 

Bat. 

Manure of 369. 

Bateham, M. B., on Plows 377, 

Bay of Fundy 

Beal, John, on Maize Sugar. ..226 to 

Beans 347, 348, 415, 

Beaufort 

Beetles, Injurious to Maize Cul- 
ture 283, 2S4. 287, 288, 

Beneficial to Maize Cuiture 

Beets - 

Belen River 

Belgium 121, 122. 

Belt of Rains 

Of Equally Distributed Rains 

Bengal _ 

Bennett on Fowls 

Bennington 

Kerkshire Co. Mass 262, 289, 304, 

lierthier 

Berzelins 

Big Yellow Variety 

Bile. 



BiphosphRte of Lime 320, 

Birds, as to Maize Culture 280 to 

Droppings of (see Guano) 

Physiology of 



370 
378 
236 
228 
416 
127 

289 
291 
273 

23 
124 
241 
247 
873 
206 
217 
344 
ZS9 
342 
1.53 

21 
321 
283 
251 
S66 



445 



Page. 

Birds, Pulling Corn to prevent 301 

(See Steeping Coru.) 

Bitter Root Valley 240 

Black Corn 140 

Blaok-birds 280, 281, 301 

Blodget, Lorin , — 35, 235, 236, 241 

Blood 13, 355 

Blue Jay 280 

Kobolink 263 

Bogs. [See Swamps] - 

Boiied Corn Bread 221 

Boiling Ears of Maize 207, 208 

VVlieii Kipe for 207 

Shelled Cora Whole 211 

Maize Juice for Syrup 227, 228 

Bones 342 

Bolivia *.... 37 

BoUmau, Lewis, on Maize riCt'l 

Bollworm 286 

Boue t;harcoal 346 

Bone-dust 344,346,356, 370 

Bone Earth 321 

Bones, How Dissolved 343, 344 

Imported into Great Britain from 
Germany and South America... 342 

Of Ciiildren 342 

Crushed in Steam Mills 342 

Manurial Value of 356, 370 

Phasphate 370 

Bordeaux, Franoc 36 

Borrow on the Spanish 217 

Boston E.xponing Disirict 127 

Journal US 

Prices 88, 89, 104 

Botanv 135 to 138 

Prof' Lindley's 35, 187, 138 

Bottom or Alluvial Soil, 250, 278, 297, 309 

Bousingault 362 

Bradford Ca Pa 289 

Brahma =,. 25 

Bran of Corn Meal 214 

Brattleboro, Vt _ » 269 

Brazil 37, 119. 121, 123, 124 

Bread from Maize 215 to 2ii4 

Boiled 221 

Lightened 220, 221 

Steamed 221 

Unleavened 219, 220 

Breaking Corn for Feed 200 

Bremen, Germany 121, 122, 342 

Bridgeport, Conn 303, 304 

Brighton Variety 142, 143 

Bristol Co. Mass 261 

British Africa ™ . 117 

America 37, 244 

Colonies 38, 119, 120 

Australia 124 

Columbia 117, 129 

Central and South America 124 

East Indies ~ 124 

Guiana 120, 122 

Honduras 122, 124 

North American States, 120, 121, 

122. 124 131 

West Indies 120,122,123, 124, l.tl 

Broken Corn... 199 



Pi\gO. 

Broom Com ««..^..» 433, 4.34 

Brown Corn 141. 145, 146 

Brown, John ; on Topped Corn 191 

Brush, Decayed for Manure 271 

Buckingham Co. Va 189, 2;i 

Buckwheat 175, 324, 348, 319 

Buel, Judge 252, 414 

Buel's Button Variety 109 

Buenos Avres 114 

Buffalo, Exporting District, 127, 129, 131 

Prices of Maize. 9t 

Butfalo Droppings as Fuel 3)7 

Drawing Plow 37:i 

Buhr stoue for Corn Mills 42) 

Buildings to Secure Farm Manures, .369 

Bullskin Variety l.',0 

Bull-tongue Plow 408, 41 1 

Buncombe Co. N. C 300 

Buntings 283 

Burch, Capt 140 

Burr's Sweet Corn Cob Analyzed 168 

Bushel of Corn ; Cost of Kaisiug, 
42« to 428 

Weightof in Different States 424 

Buzzards 280 

Cabbage 273 

Cacique of Comagra. 23 

Cakes, (Corn) » 212, 214 

Calcareous Manures 314, 316, 313 

Soils 252, 2.53 

Calcium, chloride of 318, 319 

Calico Corn 139 

California 37, 66, 67, 68, 115, 237, 

239, 240 260 

Irrigation 209 

(See Tables.) 

Caloptenus Spretus 287 

Calosoma Calidum 291 

Canada 37, 115, 142, 187, 236, 241, 241 

Dolomites 328 

Exports and Imports 121, 122, 134 

Canada Varieties 168, 208 

Yellow White Flint 141 

Canals, Miami and Welland 90 

Erie and Champlain 112 

Canary Islands 36 

Canning Green Corn ; Recipes for.. 209 

Canopas - 27 

Canton, Ohio S82 

Capac Asitua, Raymi 26 

Cape of Good Hope 34 

Cape Mendocino 237 

Caragua Corn 164 

Carbon „ 9, 10 

In Analyses 15 

Carbonic Acid 9 

Water 321, 322, 351 

Carbonate of Ammonia. 323 

Lime 255. 314, 315. 316, 322, 342 

(See Maguesia aud Oilier Bases) 

Carey Plow 412 

Carl Heller 213, 215 

Carolinas 59, 217, 259 

Carolina Parrot 280 

Carpophilus Hemipterus 288 

Carroll Co. Ohio 293 



446 



Page. 

Carroll Jamea 284 

Carrot 273 

Ciiseine 10 

Analyzed 15 

In Maize 166, 167, 171 

(See Tables of Analyses.) 

Castile, Plow of 37.3 

(Hstliii,' IUi1e;es 393 

Cast I ron Plow 376, 378 

< Hst-Steel and Cast Cast-Steel Plows, 37i) 

Cat Pird 282 

Cat Island ~ 23 

Cato's Plow 372 

Cattle Feeding 196, 197, 272 

•'edarBird 282 

Census Returns, How Made up. ..40, 41 

Of Swine 45 

Centennial Awards oa Plows.... 383, 384 

Exhibition 383 

Grounds 163 

Central American States 124 

Centre Draft 376, 395, 396 

Plow 378 

Ceres 25 

Ces.sation of Culture 415 

Ceylon 35, 373 

C femur Rubrum 287 

Chaffinch 282 

Chalk ^ 316, 317 

Soils 258 

Clialkyand Limestone Soils .... .324 

Champaign Co. Ohio 297 

Champlain Lake 112, 321 

Change of Rotation 275 

Chaptal on Rotations 274 

Charcoal 321, 344, 352, 355, 362 

Charleston, S. 245 

Charred Peats 338 

Chemistry 340 

Chemang Co. N. Y 302 

Cherokee Co. Ala 163 

Cherokee Corn 159, 174 

Chesapeake Bay 244, 245 

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal 86 

Chester Co. Pa 428 

Chester, England 384 

Chica 26. 27 

Chicago, Exporter of Maize, &c. 

117, 129 133 

Prices 89, 94, 103 

Chickasaws 112 

Chicken Corn IGl 

Chicken Feeding 205, 206 

Chili 37, 114, 124, IGO 

Chillicothe, Ohio 82 

China -...35, 119 to 124 

Irrigation in ..263 

'free leaves Preventing Weevil, &c 291 

Chinese Name for Maize 160 

Plow 373 

Tree Corn 159 

Chinch Bug 285 

Chloride of Lime 319 

Chlorine 12, 175, 313, 319 

Chloride of Sodium 333 

Chlorite 341 



Vago. 

Chlorophyll 180 

Cholera— at Cincinnati 229 

Chyle 13 

Chyme 13 

Cincinnati. Climate of 239 

Corn Cities, One of 129 

Pork Packing at 116, 436 

In 1849-50 132 

Prices, 83, 85, 87, 90, 98, 101, 102, 

103, 104 208 

Premiums at Ohio State Fairs 382 

Public Library 104, 410 

Tonnage (in 1849-50) 1.32 

Daily Gazette 83, 84, 87. 88, 383 

Weekly Gazette..l51, 203, 208, 291, 396 

Cist, Charles 92 

Cities and Towns Furnishing Plows 
to Ohio State Fairs, and receiv- 
ing Premiums 382 

Clark <o. Oliio; Reportsfrom 191 

Clay Soils 249. 252, 254, 255, 256, 

257, 258, 261, 262, 266. 267, 278, 
314, 316, 336, 338, 348, 350, 378, 

386, 387, 408, 409 414 

Loam 253, 261, 265 

Clay'.? Compromise 114 

Clearing Wet Lands, New Fields 272 

Clement, J. W 316 

Clemson, T. G., on Manures 327 

Cleveland 104, 129, 133, 382, 383 

Clevis 378, 381, 396 

Climate for Maize 234 to 248, 263 

In North America 235, 236, '^37 

In U. t3 144, 145, 239, 240, 241, 247 

Clinton Limestone Tracts 2.52 

Clinton Varietv 152 

Cloth from Maize Plant 233 

Clover 273 to 278, 298, 347 to 349 

Coal, Anthracite; Analysis of 338 

Ashes 339 

Bituminous, Analyzed 3:'9 

Measures 251 

Coarse Stalks, How Softened 360 

Coast Range 237, 238, 241, 242 

Cobbett's Corn If.O, 101 

Cobbetton Maize_ 36, 188, 206 

Cobs of Corn 284 

Analyzed 168, 169 

Ashes of, Analyzed 169 

Nutrition in 199 

Value as Food, Fuel, <fec 199 

Cockroaches 286 

Coffin, Prof 242, 244 

Colastus Semitectus 288 

Colburn, ,T. W., on Varieties 146 

Coleman, Prof., on Irrigation 269 

Coles Co. Ills 306 

Coleoptera 287 

Colombia 114,123, 124 

Colorado 43, 44, 1.59. 240, 260, 269, 

270,287 329 

Irrigation in 269, 417, 418 

(See Statistical Tables.) 

Colors of Corn 139, 140. 141, 161 

Colter 372, 375, 376, 377, 379 

Columbia, R 236 



INDEX. 



447 



Page. 

Columbia, 8. 0. Adv^ocate 154 

(X)lumbus 22, 23, 24 

Columbus, Ohio 307, 382 

Colville, Ft 236 

Commerce aud Navigation, U. S. 

Reports on, 95, 90,97, 114. 117,118, 126 
Commissioner of Agriculture, U. S. 

Reports, 1867 385 

General Land OlBce, U. S. R....259, 260 

Patents, (U. S.) 165 

Comp(«itiou ol Corn, (see Analyses) 161 

Compost Manures 302, 346, 332, 303 

Conception Point, (Jlimate 237 

Condensersof Gases 343 

Connecticut River Varieties 107, 171 

Connecticut. ..50, 66. 67 303, 304, 363, 368 
(See Statistical Tables.) 

Maize Varieties in 146 

Exporting Disiricls 126 

Consumption of Maize in U. S., 134, 135 
Cooking Indian Corn for Stock, 

198,199, 201 to 205 

Indian Meal 193, 200 to 203, 205 

Corn Fodder 203 

By Machinery (steaming) 194, 195 

Cooiey Corn....". 156 

f'opper 341 

Copperas, aa a Deodorizer 362 

As a soak for deed Corn 290 

Coprolites 327 

Corals 320 

Coral Sand 327 

Corn Bran 214 

Bread 215 to 224 

Cakes 213, 214 

And Cob Crushers 199 

Feed 199 

Cribs _ 423 

Crops of (See Tables) 

How secured against Destroyers... 284 

Kmperor 284 

Fed to HogB as source of Manure.. 176-7 

Feed for Beef Cattle 201 

Fields, small 407 

Fodder, Money Value of 196 

(See Fodder.) 

Hnsker, Note as to « - 412 

Cornishville, Maine _ 241 

Corn in Rotations 273 to 278 

Harrow 301, 302, 410 

Meal 212, 213, 214 

Exports of. ...109, 110, 111. 119, 120, 

121, 122 125 

(See Tables.) 

Prices, Meal „ 88, 101 

Mills, Price of 425 

Mills Described .425, 426 

Planters 405, (Note 411, 412), 428 

And Potatoes Planted Together... 415 

Pudding 222 

Shellers, Note 412 

Shellers 425 

Shelled by Hand 424, 425 

Soup 207 

Stalks. Largo 300 

Stalks, Waste for Manure 3ol 



Page. 
Corn and Wheat Bread Compared, 

218 219 

Corn Worm isO 

Coriez 24 140 

Coshocton, 84 

Cdsi. of Cultivating- Corn 426 to 428 

Cotton Bagging, <fec 123, !24 

Exports 1 15 

Seed 3.)3 

County Boar s of Agriculture, Ohio, 

Presidents ol 2f>.'} 

Cow, Digestion of 14, 179 

Cow-pea as Fertilizer HM 

Cradle for cutting Corn Fodder 480 

Creuic Acid 351 

Crops of Maize in Massachusetts Bay 31 

In U. S (See Tables) 

Remark.s on. .39. 40, 41, 43. 44, 47, 
48, 49, 60, 51, 52, 57, 59, fcO, 63, 64, 

Of Ohio.'..'...'.'..".'..........'.'.'.".'.'.".'.'..' 72. 73 

Large - 262, 295 to 309 

Of Corn Sown for Fodder, 429, 430, 431 
Of 100 Bushels to Acre, !!■ w 

Rai-sed 300 to 802 

Cross-bills 283 

Cross Breeding 162 

Crow 280. 284, 290 

(Jrown Point Phosphorite 821 

Crushing Maize for Fodder 199 

Cuba.. 23, 87 

Exports to 119 to 122 

Imports trom, to U. S 122, 123 124 

Maize Fodder in 185 

Cuban Guano 846 

Cuckoo 282 

(^ulms of Young Maize as Food 208 

Cultivator 297, 299,301, 860, 389, 

408, 409, 410, 413 414 

Seven Toothed and 2 Horse 409 

Cultivation, When Ended. ..409, 413, 415 

Culture, Deep 247, 306 to 809, 311, 

387, 388, 409. 414 415 

Of Broom Corn 433, 434 

Cumberland Co. Va 189, 261 

Curculio 282 

Black 286 

Currencies, New Jersey, &c 79 

f'urrentsof Air and Ocean 245, 246 

Curtis, I>. S 431 

Cutler Temple 188, 429 

Cutting up and Harvesting Corn 419 

to 422 

Machines for 420, 421, 422 

Time for 191. 192. 420 

Cutworm 60, 289, 290, 302, 3.50 

Cuyahoga Exporting District 127 

Cuzco 25 

Cyclopedia, (Scotch) Rural, 188, 205, 

216 273 

Cylinder Plow 379 

Dairyman's Ass'n at Utica, N. Y 180 

Dairyman, (Delhi) feeding .Mixed 

Food 203 

Dakota 43. 44, 46, 210, 200, 287 

(See Tables.) 



448 



Page. 

Daniels', Prof. Experiments 159 

Duuish West Indies, Exports to, 119, 

IJO 134 

Imports from, to D. S 123 

Dantzic 342 

Dariea 24 

Darling Corn 158, 208 

Daabeuy, Dr. (apatite) 321 

Daupliin Co. Pa 315 

Ddvv, Sir Hamphrey IC, 252 

Davlon Plows 382, 383 

Dead Animals 353, 354 

How Used as Manure ~« 354 

D<;ad Sea 331 

Dearing Corn 153 

De Bow's Compendium (Census) 39 

Deep Plowing 387, 388, 389 

Delaware, 50, 55, 127, 150, 253, 275, 276 

325, 328, 332. 348, 427 428 

(See Tables.) 

Delaware Co. Pa 196, 277, 367 

Delaware Co. Ohio 152, 382 

Demand and Supply 106 

Denmark 118 

Deut, J. H ~ 285 

Dent Corn 147, 150 

Early 405 

Denver, Col 269, 417 

Denver's Plow 376 

Deodorizers 343, 352, 354, 362 

Department of Agriculture, Wash- 
ington City, Museum 163 

Depth of Planting or Covering 406 

Experiments on 309, 310, 406, 407 

Desert Region of U. S. (so called).... 240 

Des Moines Prices 104 

Detroit 104 

Exporting District 127, 129 

Dextrine 11, 12, 161, 168, 197, 204, 225 

Diary, Agricultural Use of 279 

Digestion of Animals Generally 204 

Human 12 to 14 

Porcine, 14, 204, 205 

OS HorfeandOx „ 14, 179 

Of Sheep, Young Cattle and 

Fowls 14, 204, 205 

Diggers 374 

Diseases of Maize, el Carbon 293 

El Hango, (Mexico) ~ 293 

Drainage as a Remedy- 294 

La Ra<)uitte 293 

Mustinessto Prevent 294 

Smut in Corn 293, 294 

Distilleries 201, 2.31 

Distillation, Products of ... .229, 230, 231 

Distribution of Maize 34 to 38 

Of Exports of Maize 118 to 122 

District of Columbia.. 44 

(See Tables.) 

Ditches 264, 265, 269, 394 

Dodge, A. W 189 

Dogs 293, 354 

Dolomites 259, 328, 329 

(See Magnesian Limestone) 
Domestic Animals and Poultry Fed, 178 
Duua Aua 417 



Page. 

Double Michigan Plow .~.... 380 

Shovel Plow 298, 407, 409, 413, 414 

Double Tree 399 

Dove 283 

Draft of Plow; Centre 395, 396 

Force of, (Priest's Expe^iments^.. 397 

Line of 374, 375, 397 

Point of 395, 397 

Drainage, Effect on Soil 258, 262, 

263 to 268 270 

Drains, Depth and Distance Apart... 266 

Drain Tiles 265, 208 

Drift Deposits in Ohio, &c 252 

Drill 298, 401 

Furrows Manured 360 

Drought Null from Deep Plowing, 

When 388, 408, 409, 414 

Dry Blood 370 

Dry Earih for NightSoil 362 

Drying Green Corn 209 

Drying Machine, Centrifugal 355 

Ducks fed on Maize 206 

Dukes Co. Mass 304 

Dunlap. M. L., on Plows 377, 386 

Dutch Plow 374 

Dutch E. Indies 124 

West Indies 123 

Dutch Settlements in America 28 

Dutton Variety, 43, 146, 150, 159, 169, 174 

Dynamometer 381 

liagle Plow ~ 378 

Ear Corn 197, 197 

Advantages of 424 

Early Dent Com 159 

Early Gourd .....~ 123 

Earlv Yellow Dent ~ 174 

Early Yellow Pop 159 

Earthquakes 249 

East Indies 25, 121, 1'23 

Economy of Maize Bread 222, 2'23 

Edwards", Mississippi 190 

Eggs, Fresh in Winter 206 

Egypt 36, 123, 268, 333, 371 

Egyptian Maize ~ 161 

Eight Rowed YellowCorn 141, 171 

Large 170 

El Carbon, El Hango, El Raquitte... 293 

Electricity 235, 311 

Elevations Reduced to Sea Level 245 

Elijah and Elisha 371 

Elkington Drain 266 

Elsinore 342 

Emigrants 218 

Emmons, Prof 171 

Enemies to Maize Culture 279 to 295 

England 36, 116,199, 217, 266, 273. 314 

Exports to 119, 120, 121 

Imports from 123, 124 

Lime Used in, and How Applied, 314 
Prices of Maize & Provisions, 90 to 92 

Varieties of Maize in 161 

English Settlements in America 28 

Plows 374, 375, 377, 384, 385 

Entomologv, Importance of 292 

Entomologi.st of U. S. Agl. Dep't 279 

Epsom Salts, (Sulpliatcof Magnesia) 331 



449 



Page. 

Equatorial Heat.. 245 

Curreats 24G 

Winds 241 

Erie Canal 43,82, 94, 112 

Espy's Rain Piiilosophy 242 

Estimatosof Maize Products in US. 

from 1842 lo 1848 47 

From 1862 to 1865 iO 

Kroiu 1867 to 1874 57 

Acres of Maize from '66 to '74 58 

Average Yield per Acre, and Price 

from 'G6 to '74 61 

Total Va.ue of Ma ze Crops, from 

'66 to '74 62 

Number of Swine with Price and 

Value, .lan'v '64 to '66 GS 

Feb'y '67, '08, '69 CO 

Feb'y'70, '71, '72 70 

Jau'y 1876 71 

(See Tables.) 

Estimates, How Made in 1862 .51 ^,2 

Europe laO, 291, 3G9, r>74 

Maizo Bread in 216 

European Varieties IGO 

Kuryomia, Inda. "289 

Evans on Maize in Canada 187 

Evening Traveler, (Boston) 88 

E\-ergreeuC'orn 158, 208 

Eweil on Grinding and Cooking to 

Feedstock 80 

E.xcremcuw of Domestic Animals, 

357 to 361 

Excrements of Deeraud Kabbit 357 

Of Man. (Night Soil) 362, 303 

Experiments on Maize and Other 

Bread, &c 222to22t 

On Peaty Swamp for Maize Glow- 
ing 303 

Of Priest on Draft of Plows 397 

On Varieties as toSnrinkage 174 

As to Tirao of Ripening 109 

Exports of Bones Irom European 

Cities 342 

Early of U. S., Remarks on.. ..107, 108 
And Imports t.f Maize in U.S. Colo- 
nies Previous to 1776 a3, .'54 

Maize from 1776 to 1779 108, 109 

Exports of Maize and Hog Products 
from U. S. 1790 to 1820 and Re- 
marks on same 109 to 113 

Of snme from ISJl to 18.53, (table), 113 

Hog Product in '5t, '55, '58, '59 116 

Maize, &c., from U. 8. to Jreland, 

inl»16 114 

M uzeua in '01, '65, '73 117 

Maize, Meal, and Hog Products 

from 1862 to 1875 117 

Swine Products from '62 to '73 118 

Of Maize, Meal and Hog Products 

Distrilmted 118 to 122 

Of Maize, Policy of i:!4 

Prices of Maize and Meal 121, 122 

Maize percentage to Ko. of Inhab- 
itants in U. S 124, 125 

Summa'-v of, Maizo and Meal 
from lS30tolS7j 125 

38 



Page. 
Exports, Total, from U. S. from 1790 

to 1814 no 

Maize and Meal, 1854 to 1861 ILO 

Bushels of Corn on all the Canala 

to Hudson River, &c l."l 

From Boston ]ii 

Of Cotton from V. S 1:5 

From Chicago lyi 

From Philadelphia 130, 131 

Exporting Districts of U. S 126 to 1:9 

Extractive Matter 168, 109 

Fairfax Co. Va 353 

Fairfield Co. Ohio 297 

Fallow Crops 275 

F.ll Sown Wheat and Grass 273 

Fall Plowing, Advantages of 386, 388 

Effect on Worms 284, 289, 350 

Farms, Average Size of cy 

Implements, Value of 68 

New 270 

Far West 2:9 

Feathers and Hair Waste 356 

Feed, Boiled _ 198,199, 202 

Broken Corn lOS, 199 

Cobs of Green Corn 199 

Other Cob? 199 

For Domestic Animals 178 

Meal of Corn 200, 201, 20:! 

Mixed „.195, 199, 201, 203 

F(,r Poultry ....178, 205, 206 

Soaked las 

Steaming Cob and all 193 

Wetting 195, 293 

Feeding Domestic Animals 21, 2(5 

Cooked Whole Corn 198,202, 20 1 

Cooked Meal 198, 200, 201, 202, 203 

Corn and Cob Ground 201, 202 

(Crushed Maize 199 

Ear Corn...., 196, 197, 198, 201, 202 

Fodder ]92 

Fodder, StL-amcd ,. 193 

Fodder CookedbyMachinerv, 194, 195 

Ground... i97 to 205 

General Principles as to Grindin r 20 1 

Lawes' Experiments on 202, 20.3 

Qualities of Corn generally lOG 

(See Soiling.) 

Feldspar C32, G.'IG 

Female Flowers of Maize 2(j8 

Fences 394 

As Aids to Maize Crops 270, 271 

Fender Attachments 410 

Fermentation of Liquid Manure.... 363 

Fertilizers. 310 to 370 

Fiber 225, 226 

Fibrine 10 

Field Mice 284 

Fields Arranged to Catch Farm Ma- 
nures _ 3-:0 

Finches 28;; 

Fish Guano 346, 355, 370 

Fish for Manure 354, 355 

Fitch, Dr _ 291 

Flat Plowing 391 

FlatBoat^ 101 

Flax ^ 275 



450 



Pago. 

Flemish Plow 374 

Plowin-' _ 391 

Flet<li Forming Elements 15 

Fliut < orn 155 

Northern VM 

Hominvand Southern Big White, laS 

White, Analysis of 170, 171 

For Soiling ™ 182 

Floods 263 

Florida 43, 50, 66, 68, 244, 262, a27 

(See Tables.) 

Fluorine 12 

>iuorideof Calcium 342 

Fodder from Maize 178 to 196, 235 

Ash of Leaves Analyzed 191 

Chopping for Horses and Neat 

Cattle ^ 192 

Cooking 194, 195 

liac'hiney for Cooking 194, 19,') 

< utting Up 192 

Effectof, Plowed in 175 

Effect of, on Nutrition 183 to l,s5 

Fed out dry 182, 192 

Fed out Green „ 178 to 181 

From General Crop 191 

Product of 189 

Prices of 196 

Sowed Corn for Soiling, 178 to 181, 

42810 431 

Steamingand Apparutusfor, 192 to 195 
Super-phosphate for Fodder Crop. 345 

Testimony as to its Merits 1S9 

to 191, 193, 195, 196 

Time of Cutting for General Crop, 192 
From Topping Corn, 186, 187, 189, 190 
Time of Cutting for Soiiing....l81, 429 
Value of, as compared with Hay... 196 
Value of Stalks from Grain Crop, 

as compa.-ed with Hay 192 

Food, Value of Maize 16 to 21 

Human, from Maize 206 to 226 

Its Advantages 225, 226 

For Soil 175 to 178 

Foot-prints of Plow Horses on Acre, 385 

Forest Leaves, Value 271, 272, 351 

Forests, Effectof on Climate 247, 218 

Cutting of, for Pastures 272 

Fort Fillmore 417 

Four Corners, Huron Co. O - 382 

Fowls 205, 206 

[See Poultrv.] 

France 206, 268, 323, 327, 833 

Exports to 118 

From U. S 120, 121, 122 

U. S. Imports from 123, 124 

U. S. Maize Bread in 216 

Maize District of 36 

Maize Product of 36 

North-West 205 

Southern 35, 371, 424, 425 

Franklin, Dr 323 

Franklin Co. N. Y., (Broom CornV.. 433 

Freight Prices 100, 101, 102, 106 

Chicago to Liverpool 133 

French. II. P i:66, n«i 

French Gi.Ima , 27 



Par:c- 

French Government 74 

Creuch W. Indies 123 

French Varieties 160 

Fr nch Liquid Manures 846 

Furrow.... 378, 37a, S80 

\vi<uhof .nao 

Depth, How Regulated 396, 397 

Lap 392 

Listing 416 

Furrowing Out _ 401 

Both Ways 408 

Gadsden Co. Kla 291 

Galveston, Texas 104 

Qing Plow 379 

Garden of Gold and Silver 25 

Garden Cultivator 408 

Gas Lime » 319 

G istric Juice 12 

Gav Lussac 332 

(Jeddes, George 203 

Geese fed on Maize 206 

Gelatin S21, 342, 3iy^ 

Geological Formations of U.S.,2c2, 2.'9 

Georgia 50, 67, 243, 244, 2L9, 286, 305 

[See Tables.] 

German Emigrants 2r0 

Switzerland 363 

Germans 208 

Germany. ..36, 114, 124, 186, 282, 323, 355 

South-East 205 

German ZoUverein 122 

Giant Corn 164 

Gibraltar 123 

Glauber [Salts] 334 

Glauconitic Mar.s ~ 253 

Glover, Prof 287 

Gloves 3.54 

Glucose 166, 168 

Glue 342 

Gluten 11, 17, 18, 149, 161, 171, 197 

Gneiss '259, 3-11 

Gold in California 115 

Golden Fleece Variety 151 

Golden Sioux Variety ....18, 140, 141, 

157,109 no 

Gourd Seed Variety ...148 to 150, 153, 

154, 155, 156, 162, 164, 165, 166, 1G7 
Grain 278, 371 

Advantages of 14 

First Broken 425 

Grain Bins, Note to 412 

Grains Planted in a Hill 405, 405 

Graminacepe«. 133 

Grand Rapids 325 

Granite 253, 258, 332, 341 

For Corn Mills 425 

Grape Sugar 163 

Grass, Preparation for Maize Crop, 

251, 274, 275, 276. 277, 295 302 

Grasshoppers 57, 67, 240, 281 

Described 286 

Gravelly Soils 258, £09 

Loam - 30:? 

Grav, Lewis & Clark 1.2 

Great Britain, Decrees against Na- 
poleon • 110 



451 



Page. 
Great Britain, Bones Imported by... 342 

Gypsum in 323 

Guano 3t>9 

Salt as a Manure in 333 

U. S. Exports to 121, 122 

U. S. Imports from 123, 124 

Warmed by Gulf Stream 246 

Great Lakes, Effect on Climate, 144, 236 

Great Salt Lake City 239 

Great Western Plains 236 

Mountains 329 

Grecian Poet and Plow 371, 374 

Mill 425 

Greece 35, 124, 216 

(ireeley, Farmers' Club 418 

Green Corn for Boiling, How Se- 
lected 207 

How Preserved, [RecipesJ 208, 209 

Green Crops Plowed in 347 to 350 

(ireen Mountains , 259 

Bovs 217 

Grjen Sand 253, 332 

Greeno Co. Ind 276 

Grinding and Cooking Feed. ..198 to 205 

For the Table 212 to 224 

Grosbeaks 283 

Ground Hog 280 

Grub- worm -.282, 284, 290, 291 

Guaguave 213 

Guanahani 23 

Guano 305, 316 

Beds of 3.^7 

Analysis of Four Kinds 366 

AltaVela .. ai6 

Bolivian, Chilian, Icbaboe and 

Peruvian 366 

Baker & Jarvis 346, 366 

Cuban 346 

Mexican 306, 367 

Guatiraala 37 

Guiana 120, 122, 134 

Guinea. Coast of 365 

Gulf of Mexico 238, 241, 245 

Gulf Stream 246 

Gum « 18, 168 

Gunpowder 2-59 

Gypsum 255, 319, 322 to 326 

Price of 325 

Where Used 325 

Where Found 322, 323, 325, 326 

Hackberry Variety 1.50 

Hair Waste, Ac 356 

From Tanners 370 

Halifax, N. C 190 

Hamburg, Europe 121, 122, 341. 342 

Hamilton Co. O 150. 29H, 299 

Hams .88, 89, 90 

Hand Planting of Corn 405 

Planter 4a5 

Note to 411 

Hanse Towns 118 

Harford Co. Maryland, [Guano used], ■'568 

Hare 29.S 

Il.arris, Joseph, on Soiling ISO 

Harrison Co. O. [Premium Croi>] 299 

Harrow....257, 389, 398 to 400, 411, 411, 417 , 



Page. 

Harrow, Late Patents of 399, 400 

Harrowing Large Fields 400 

Hasty Pudding 214 to 216 

[See Mush.] 

Hawks 281 

Hay, Analysis of .' 19 

Value of, compared with Corn 
Fodder 1R2 

From Irrigation... 269 

Hayes, A. A., on Corn Colors 161 

Hayti 120, 121, 123 

Headlands 392, 393 

Hebrew Mill for Grain 4.>5 

Hembstadt <& Schubler on Manures, 399 
Heat Producing Elements. 9 

Analyzed 15 

Solar 234, 249 

From Slaking Lime 317 

Excessive, effect on Plants 338 

Height of Com 172 

Hemp 123, 277 

Hens Fed on Maize 206 

Hen Manure 346, y>7 

How Saved and Applied 361 

Henry Co. O. Prize Crop 300 

Henry Prof 144, 235. 242, 246 

Herds Grass 277 

Herepath's Analysis of Coprolites... 327 

Herodotus, on Irrigation 2'8 

Hesiod's Plow 371, 372 

Heteroptera 287 

Highland Co. O. [Grub.s] 292 

Hilling 414 

Hills, Manure ior 360 

Kernels Dropped and left in. ..405, 406 

Hillside A.spects. Ac. 248, 250. 276 

HillsdaleCo. Mich 276 

Hindostan, Maize in .35 

Plow of 373 

Hiugham Plow 376 

Historical Account of Maizc....22 to 34 

Hitchcock Plow 376 

Hobson Corn 164 

Hoe 407, 410, 414 

Hoeing 413, 414. 416 

Hog as Fat Producer 79 202 

Hog Feeding, [Maize] 1,33, 198 to 203. 423 
Hogging Down Maize Crops 177, 178 

Effect on Land and following 

Wheat Crop 178 

Hogs Destroying Grubs 284 

Number, &c. inU. S... [See Swine] 

Holbrook, Gov 377, 388 

Holland, Homer ^ 233 

Holland 121, 338, 341 

Holm Oak for Ancient Plow 372 

Holmes, Ezekiel, [Birds] 2H0 

Hominy 17, 211, 212 

Honduras 124, 134 

Honey C. Variety. „ 150 

Honey, Mexican, from Maize 229 

Hornblende, Mngnesian Silicates in, 331 

Horn Rasped, &c., for Manure 357 

Horns of Cattle, Nitrogen In 370 

Horse Hoe 4^9 

Horse Manur^.., 170, 357 



452 



Page. 
Ilorsos ^ 193 

Horses, Th re t> Abreast in Plow, 393, 395 

L)iji;estion of 179 

Fed on Crushed Maize in England, 199 

In Penn., fed on Soft Corn ^ 19G 

Fed on WhoieCoru, Shows Agcof, 197 

Soaking Ear Corn for „ 19S 

norao-Toolh Variety 1G2, 165, 107 

Horse Rike 4ir? 

Horstraan'd Ejcperiments on Oats. .. 837 
Hrushauer's Analyses of Maize, 

Straw, &c « 21 

Hudson's Bay - 238 

Hudson, N. Y., Windsiu 243 

h udson River Valley, Winds of 2-13 

Exports by 131 

Hulled Corn 21 1 

Human Food, Maize 205 to 220 

Advantages of 224, 225, 22G 

Humateof Lime 323 

Humus... 249, 251, 255, 256, 257, 258 

315, 323 335 

Hungary .., 35. 216 

Huron Exporting District 133 

Hurricanes 249 

Husking Bees, Pins, Gloves and Ma- 
chines „...-...422, 423 

Hybridizing 154, 102 

Hybrid of Maize 150. 154 

Hydrate of Lime 314. 317, 319 3'29 

Miigncsia 329 

Hvdrate of O.xide of Potassium 331 

Hydrogen, [In Analysis] 15 

Hypocrenic Acid 361 

Ichaboe Guano - 36(> 

Idaho 43, 44, 260 

IlUnois 44, 45, 47, 48, M, 52, 59 65, 

66, 68, 201 ~... 250 

[Sec Tables.] 

Climate 145 

Insects 285 

Dolomites 829 

Tamestone - 317 

Premium Variety 152 

Quadrupeds 279 

Rota ions „..- 276 

Varieties 150, 159 

Whi.skev - 231 

Winds of 243 

Illinoian 201, 411 

Imperial Paper Mill at Schlogelmuhl, 233 
Imports ana Exports of Maize in U. 

S. Colonies 33, 34 

Of U. S, 1790 to 1816 110 

Imports of Bones into Gt. Britain... 341 
Imported Articles— U. S. from Vari- 
ous Countries 122 to 124 

Improvement of Land 263 to 279 

Inca 24, 25 

India 268 

Northern 35 

Indiana 262 

[See Tables, for Oop.s, <fcc.] 
Compiired with other States as to 

Acreage of Maize 6fi 

Crop „ 41, 4S, 52, 59, 65 



Pago. 

Indiana, Farm Implements 08 

Prices — 66 

Swine - 47, 61 

Value of Crops.... - 65 

Settling of, Etiect on Maize Crop... 75 

State Fair of 212 

Supposed Dried up Lakes in 250 

Varieties of Maize in 139, 150, 152 

Tndianian - 178, 203, 292 

Indianapolis 104, 129 

Indim Corn, Different Names for... 135 

Indians, Dishes from Maize. ...210 to 213 

Method of Maizo Culturc...29, 30, 239 

Pueblo 140 

Strong Liquors - 230 

Tribes, Territories 87 

Traditions 27, 23 

Maize Varieties, -.139, 140, 146, 150, 

1,57 213 

Western Wars. 115 

Indian Summers 247 

Indies 124, 135 

Indigo Bird _ 283 

Ink 229 

Inorganic Manures 313 to 346 

Insect Enemies Starved by Rotation, 273 
Other Modes of Preventing their 
Ravages. ..281, 282,284, 299, 291, 292 
Insectivora, 280, 281, 282, 283, 284, 289, 291 

Intep Raymi 26 

Inundations, Fertilizing 272 

Iodine « iSl 

Iowa 44, 46, 52 59, 63, 65, 66, 68 

(See Tables.] 

Climate 144, 145 

Land for Settlers in 'C8. 2o0 

Chinch Bug in 2b5 

Grasshoppers 287 

Limestones 317 

Dolomites 329 

Maize Varieties 150, 151 

Winds ™ — 213 

Ips Quadrisignatus —. 288 

Ireland 114, 120, 121, 124, 131 

Iron, 12, 123, 161, 175, 313, 341, 351, 369, 375 

Protoxide of 267, 814, 337 

Peroxide of 314, 337 

Iron Centre Plow 378 

Irrigation 238, 239, 242, 260, 263, 

268 to ~ 270 

In New Mexico 416, 417 

Colorado ....417, 418 

Isothermal Lines... 144,145,244, 2<5 

Italy - 35, 123, 124, 216, 268, 273 

Italians Killing Birds 282 

Jackson, Dr. C. T., [Analyses] 17, 

157, 161, 166. 107, 168. 171 232 

Jacksonville, Fla. Prices 101 

Jamaica. Maize Grown 87 

James River „ ~ 2.8 

Japan 117, 121, 124 

Jay, [In.scct Eater] 282, 284 

Jay Co. Indianian 291 

JelTerson, Pres't - 375 

Jefferson Co. N. Y 2=1 

Jcnks, Prof - 233 



45S 



Page. 

JenninRsCo. Ind „ ^.. 139 

Jersey Wliite Variety 150 

Jessamiue Co. Ky 295, '296 

Jesuits Experiments oa Crops in 

Montana 240 

Joan DiCubaon Plants, &c 22 

Job, [Plowing] 371 

Johnston, Prof., Analysis 17 

Joint Pop Corn 159, 174 

Journals of Agriculture 279 

Journal of Commerce 85 

Kausas 50, 55, 56. 66, 67, 115, 240 

[See Tables.] 

Chinch-bug 285 

Grasshoppers 287 

Soil 200 

Winds 243 

Varieties „ 151 

Karroo Plain, S. Africa 260, 251 

Keever Variety 150 

Kendall, K A 323 

Kennedy on U. S. Census -39 

Kennicott, Kobt 279 

Keiitnckv 44, 47, 48, 60, 75, 258, 

262, 287, 317, 329 369 

[See Tables.] 

Blue Grass Region 252 

Corn Bread 219 

Rjtations. .276, 277 

Liquors 231 

Kentucky Yellow Variety l.JO 

Kernels Planted and left in Hill, 405, 406 

Kevsof Florida, 327 

Kidneys ^. 13 

Kiel. [Bones Exported] 342 

Kilkenny, Fitness for Maize Grow- 
ing 36 

Killarney 374 

King Lemuel 229 

King Philip Variety 162, 165, 106, 171 

Kirkpatrick, John 283 

Klippart, J. H 289, 397 

Kni2;htstown, Ind . (Jost of Crop .... 428 

Knox, Plow Improver 377 

Labrador, Climate 246 

Lake Erie 94. 144, 145, 243, 246 

Like Huron .. 236 

L-ike Ontario 243, 262 

Lake Ports, Exporting Districts 126 

Lakes Dried Up '250 

Lake Superior — 156, 244 

Lake Village, N. H 1%, 277 

L.ike Winnepeg 236 

l.aporte, Ind 177, 276 

Lard, Prices 88, 89 

[Sne Tables.] 

Large Crops of Maize 295 to 309 

Ears of Corn 300 

Virginia Variety 150 

Lark [Sliorel 2S3 

Lava, Potiish from ~. 332 

Laweson Feeding 202. 203 

l.a'-ing out Lands for Plowing 394 

Lawrence Co. O. Prize Crop 299 

Lawson on Cobbetts Corn ... 160 

Lead, [Apatite iii Deposits of] 341 



Page. 

Leather, Nitrogen in 370 

Leavenworth, Ks 104 

Leaves of Maize, Ash at Different 

Stages 191 

Leaves for Manure 271 

Cabbage 361 

Forest and other Dead Leaves...... :i51 

LeConte, Dr., Entomologist 287 

Lee, Gov. stopping the Whisky In- 
surrection 230 

Left Hand Plow 380 

Leguminous Crops 273 

Levant 35, 123 

Lewis & Clark 112 

Lewistown. Niagara Co. N. Y 146 

Liberal Living, Advantages of -. 225 

Liberty Hall, &c. 84, 90 

Licking Co. O. [Shuck or Blade] 190 

Liebig on Bakers, <fec., Guanos 360 

Lime 12, 258, 2C-9 

As Element of Maize, &c.. See 
Analysis. 

Application of 303, 314 to 317 

Bicarbonate of 316 

Biphosphate of 320, ^.'l 

Burning of 317 

Carbonate of 255, 314. 315, 316, 317 

Chloride of 319 

Effect of in Soil 249, 257, 314 to 316 

From Magnesian Limestone. ..318, 3-J9 

Gas Lime 319 

Hydrate or Slaked 314, 315, 317, 3.« 

Ignition by Slaking 317 

Material for Making 314, 316, 317 

Mild 314, 315 

Nitrate of 259, 316, 320 

Oxalate of SJO 

Phosphate of 269, 320, .341, 342 

Plant Food 311. 315 

Quantities Applied 314, 315 

For given Thickness on Ground... 33 

Quicklime 316, 318 

Silic ites of 3^'-2 

Sulphate of 322 to 326 

Super-phosphate of 3-0, 321, 

343 to 3i.i 

Weight of Bushel of .S;6 

Where Wanting, Tested 315 

Limestone, Where Found 314, 317 

Carboniferous 2'i9 

Cretaceous 259 

(Crushed 3;-i 

Magne.sian 318, 328. 3-'0 

Sand and Gravel 318 

Shell 259, 3-.;0 

Silurian 2.59 

Limits of Maize Culture 235 to 210 

Lincoln Co. Kv. [Shucks and Blade], 1-^9 

i.,iudiey's Botiiny _ 22, 35. 137 

LI nmmn System of Botany 137 

Lippincott, J. S 2:5 

Liquid Manures 363. »'.4 

Listing 416 

Litter as Manure 360 

LitchHeld Co. Conn , 368 

Little Hocking K. Rotation 278 



454 



Page. 
Liverpool, Eng., Prioesof Maize and 
Provisions, aud Exports to-.-Sl, 

lOfi, 130 131 

Lloyd s Corn 151 

Loam 253, 278 

Local Rotations ...~i 275 to 278 

Locusts 281 

1 on don. Company „... 28 

Long Island „„.141, 145, 354 

i'^armer on Buckwheat plowed iu, 348 

Coast, Fish for Manure 354 

Loriiin, I'o. O., Prize Crop 299 

i.os Angelos 237 

Loudon's Cvclopedia of Agriculture, 

22, 2S, 35, 3C, 3C3, 369, 371 374 

Louisiana 50 fiS 

(See Tables.) 

Soali for Cora 280 

Winds of - 244 

Louisville, Kv 104, 129 

Artesian "Wells at 3U 

Journal - 295 

Low Countries, Maize Bread in. 216 

Lower California Winds.... ... 242 

Lubec, Bones Exported ._ 342 

Lucerne ~ 347 

Ludlow's Expts, Plai:\ting Com 406 

Lupine Yellow 84S 

Luzerne Co. Pa. [Broom Com] 434 

Lymphatic Vessels 13 

Machinen' for Cooking l-'odder-lW, 1S6 

WcKenzie's River 2.38 

Mason, N. H. Superphosphate tried, S4.t 

Macon Co. Tennessee. — 369 

Macrodactvlus Subspinosus 2.s9 

Madeira Islands 121, 123 

Madi.son Co. N. Y., Rotations 277 

Magna Grcecia Plow 371 

Magnesia...- 12, 175, 313, 316, 328, 3J9 

Carbonate of 32^ 

Phosphate of 331, 342 

Sulphate of [Epsom Salts] 331 

Magnesian Limestones... .259, 328 to 3:^0 

Caustic 330 

Effects of on Crops 329, 330 

Magnesium, Chloride of 830 

Magpie - 280 

Mahiz 23, IX') 

Maine 47. 48, .50 59. 66, 67, 139, 427 

[See Tables.] 

Climate 236, 241 

Coprolites 327 

Dolomites 327 

Maize.— See Tables of Contents, Ta- 
bles of Analysis, Acreage. Crops, 
Exports, Prices. Value, Varieties 

and Other Tables 

Diagrams 437 to 440 

Its Large Product Illustrated... 64, 65 

Possibilities of Large Crops 304, 305 

Vegetates at wliat Temperature... 264 

Maizona •" 117 

Malaria from Decomposition of 

Sod 248, 272 

Mammoth Variety , 152 

Mammoth Cave iu Ky 259, 320 



Pago. 

Maneo Capac . 25 

MandaD Com ~_.. 15G, 157 

Manganese, Oxide of 314, 341 

Manilla, Imports from and to T'.S... 123 
Manures, See Fertilizers in Table 
of Contents, and the Subordi- 
nate Titles, (marked by letters) 
herein. 

Definition and Derivation 312 

Geaeral Kequisites „ 313 

Manures, Experiments from Steep- 
ing Seeds _ 3U 

Animal or Vegetable 347 

Inorgauicand Organic 313 

Uses of _ 313 

Of Animal Origin, Blood 355, 370 

Bones 356 

Dead Animals 353, 3.':4 

Fish, (Moss Bunkers, Ac.) 354, 355 

Excrements of Buffalo, Deer aud 

Rabbit.„ „ a57 

Elements of Hoise, &c 357 

Of Cow, Horse, Mule and Sheep, 3.57 

Ash of same in Table 358 

Excrement of Hen A Pigeon.. 357. 361 
Dropped one Night by Chicken, 

Duck or Pigeon, &c 361, 362 

Guano from Bat, [U. S. Caves] 3i)9 

Guano from Birds 357, 366 

Guano from Fish 355 

Human Manure [Night Soil] 3.57 

Leatlier Chips _ .S56, 370 

Poudreltes _ 355, 356, .363 

Rasped Horn 357 

Urine „357, 3(54 

Waste Feathers, Hair, &c 356 

Woolen Refuse, «&c 357 

Man res of Vegetable Origin, Char- 
coal 352 

Cotton Seed 3.53 

Forest and other Dead Leaves 351 

Green Crops Plowed in: Beans, 
Buckwheat, Clover. Cow-pea, 
Grasses, Lupine, Maize. Oats, 
Peas, Pasture or Meadow [old], 

Sanfoin, &c 317 to S-'tQ 

Muck or Peat 351 

Refuse Vtegetable Matier .351 

Seaweed and Soot 3.53 

Stubble and Weeds 350 

Spent Tanbark and Tobacco Dust, 3.53 

Waste Straw and Stalks .351 

Absorbents of Liquids and Ga.ses, 360 

Compost ox Mixed a53, 360, 362, .363 

Barnyard » 29S 

From Coin Fed to Hogs 176, 177 

Stable 176, 302, 348 

HowSaveii 359 to 363 

How Applied, Fresh or well 

Rotted 312, 3<<9 

Quantities Applied 361 

Manure Carts for Applying Liquids, 364 
For Inorganic Manures, Potussa, 
Soda, Silica. Phosphorus, Alum- 
ina and Com poll nds. Magnesia 
aud Mail, See Same. 



455 



Page. 

Manuring in the Hill 339 

Mapes, Prof., ou Feeding 203 

Marble, Source of Lime 316 

Marietta, O - 75, 140 

Marion Cd. Miss - 353 

Marl, Calcareous 253 

Clay or Argillaceous 253, 326 

Glauconitic or Greensaud 253, 259 

Pond 259 

Shell .259, 32G 

Stony 326 

Marsh, N. H,, on Fodder 1R9 

Maryland 50, 149, 253, 289, 291, 293 

(See Tables.) 

Gypsum 323, 325 

Magnesian Limestone in 328 

White Variety, Cob Ash Analyzed 169 

Mason. N. J., on Hog Feeding 203 

Massachusetts Bay, Karly Prices of 

Maize 31 to 33 

Massachusetts 45, 50, 57, 158, 219, 

261, 304, 328 376 

Board of Agriculture 339 

Agricultural Reports 345 

Horticultural Society 283 

Farmers ou Green Ccrn for Soil- 
ing 181 

Mattresses from Indian Corn Husks, 

232 233 

Meadow 300 

Old 347 

Medals, (Ancient Plows) 371 

Meigs Co. O., Soaking torn 198 

Memphis, Tenn 232 

Mendocino I'ape 237 

Mercantile Journal, Boston 88 

Mercer Co. O., Large Crop 300 

Mess Pork 88, 89, 99 

Described 92 

Metagorda Co. Texas 262 

Meteorology 144, 235 

Observations, How Used 243, 247 

Mexican Varieties of Maize 140. 160 

Mexicans. ..207, 208, 210. 211, 212, 213, 

215 — 330 

Mexican War - 41. 100 

Mexico 24, 37, 114 

U.S. Exports to and Imporlsfrom, 

120, 121, 122, 123, 124 134 

Diseases of Maize in 293 

Miami Canal 94 

Michigan 50, 56,68, 262, 325 

[See Tables.] 

Cost of Cultivating Corn 427 

Rotations - 276 

Limestone 317 

Farmers on Soiling 181 

Agricultural College 202 

Middle & E!\stern States, Plaster in, 339 
And Western States, Kernels in 

Hill 406 

Mifflin Co. Pa., Lime Applied 315 

lifild Lime, Advantages of 318 

Mil.s, Prof., on Feeding 202 

Mills for Grinding Corn 425, 426 

Mdize Stalks » 226, 227 



I'age. 

Milwaukee 104, 127 

Minnesota 65, 144 

(See Tables.] 

Limestones „. 329 

Soil 268 

Missouri 112, 115, 219 

[See Tables.] 

Acreage 55, 66 

Crops 44, 50, 56, 65, 67 

Dolomites 328 

Limestone 317 

Size of Farms 68 

Swine 47 

Mis.souri Republican 89 

Missouri River 157, 236, 329 

Mis.souri State Rept's, (Broom Corn.) 434 

Mississippi 50, 112, 219 

[See Tables.] 

Corn Worm 286 

Plaster in 325 

Soil of 261 

Winds 243 

Mississippian 412 

Mississippi River, 92, 93, 171, 236, 238. 241 

Valley 238, 243, 245, 260, 285 

Mixtures of Varieties 149, l,j3, ].")4 

Mobile Prices lOt 

Mohammedans ^ 22 

Mohawk River 243, 275 

Moldavia 35 

Moles 283 

Moline 382 

Plow Co 383, 384 

Monterey Climate 239 

Monthly Report to U. S. Agl. Dep. 
for May and June 1876 . 134, 286, 369 

Aug. and Sep. 1876 285 

Montana 43, 44, 240, 260, 287 

[See Tables.] 

Montezuma 24 

Montgomery Co. Md 189, 367 

Montreal Prices 104 

Moore's Rural New Yorker 195 

Morea, iPlow) 373 

Mormons ^ 239 

Mosely, J. C, Feeding 195 

Moule, Rev. Mr. (Deodorizer) :Bo2 

Mountains, Effect on Climate. ...238, 248 

Muck 249, 2,30, 264, 325, 344, 351 

How Prepared 352 

Applied 354, 360. 3^1 

Muriate of Potash 316 

Muriatic Acid 342 3 13 

Murrav's Encyclopedui *-fi 

Muse, Dr 149. 293 

Museum of Dep't of Agl. at Wash- 
ington City 163 

Mush 206. 21t 

Muskingum R 84. 2T.S 

Mustiness, to Save Shell Corn from, 291 

Nancy 35 

Nantucket (Coal Ashes) .3,S9 

Nashville...,. 101 

National Road , ^^(■> 

National Intelligencer .so 

Navajoe Xu4iaas, How Raise Corn... 4i9 



4GG 



Page. 
Kebraska»....50, 66, 67, 144, 240, 2C0, 287 
[See Tables.] 

Winds of — ^ 243 

Netherlands 118, 123, 124 

Nevada 37, 6G 

Newberry, Prof 251 

New Brunswick 134, 236, 259 

Ne wbold's Plow, Cast Iron 37G 

New C-astle Co. Del 261, 427 

New England 43, 55, 59, 60, 219, 325 

Ashes Used in 339 

Climate 236 

Fish Manure 354 

Lime in 314, 317 

Plowing in Falliu 386 

Winds of 243 

New England Farmer...284, 294, 348, 376 

New Eiiglander's Bread 217 

New Grenada 124 

New Hampshire 48, 50, 59, 66, 236, 325 

Dolomites 328 

Rotation 277 

N. Harmony, (Maize Sugar) 226 

N. Jersey 46, 50, 55, 63, 66, 67, 126, 300 

[See Tables.] 

{ Curculio 286 

' Green Sand, &c... 253, 259, 317 

White and Other Varieties 150 

N. Mexican Black Variety 208 

White 151 

N. Mexico 41, 45, 139, 213, 236, 287, 

240 416 

[See Tables.] 

Soil of 260 

Winds 243 

Cultivation by Navajoes 419 

N. Netherlands, Early Maize Prices, 33 
N. Orleans Prices...83 to 87, 89, 90, 93, 

101, 102 104 

As Exporting City 128, 129,133, 134 

As to Lsothermal Lines 244, 245 

Picayune, (Newspaper) 300 

Newport, lud., Cost of Corn Pro- 
duction 427 

New Soutli Wales 36 

New World, Maize iu 37 

N. York Albion 207, 216, 222, 22.i 

N. York City, Exports, 126, 127, 130, 113 

Freight Prices 101, 106 

I Other Prices, Corn, Meal and Hog 

Products and Provisions, 74, 76, 

I 77, 78, 80, as, 85, 87, 89, 90, 91, 92, 

94, 95, 96, 97, 99, 100 104 

N. York Banks 56, 99 

N. York Chronicle ... 99 

N York Spectator 74, 76, 77 

N. York State Agl. Society 171, 267 

N. York S.ate. Acreage of Maize 65 

fSee Tables.] 

Climate 2,36 

Corn Bread 219 

Cost of Cultivating Maize 427 

«'rop 48, 50 

Dolomites 328 

Experiments in Culture SO," 

Farm Implements 68 



Page. 

N. York State, Gypsum 323, 326 

Insect Enemies 289, 291 

Plows 378, 379 

Limestone 317, 259 

Rotations 275, 277 

Soils 2.'2, 262 

Soiling 180, 181 

Varieties 141, 143, 145, 147 

Winds 243 

Niagara Co. N. Y 32S 

Falls 323 

Islets 2^!2 

Nichols,"j.'R!*'on Fodder,'.'"!'."*.'.".'.'.'.!!! 187 

Nightingale 282 

Night Soil 352, 362, Sf3 

Nile R. Flooding Soil 200 

Nitrates, Formation of, aided bv 

Lime 314, 316 

Nitrate of Ammonia 2.">5 

Lime 316, 320 

Magnesia , 331 

Potash 332 

Soda 334 

Nitric Acid 311, 314, 316, 348 

Nitrogen 9, 10, 256, 311, 313, 316 

Value of, in Various Manures... 370 

Nitrogenous Elements 10, 11, 15, 

to .20, 171, 357 

Norfolk, Va. Prices 82, 83 

North American Indians, 27, 28, 207, 212 

Normans, (Coral Sand) 827 

Old Plow 373 

North Carolina 146, 154, 164,269, 285 

[See Tables.] 

Large Crops 300 

Gypsum 325 

Limestones 328 

North Chili, Nitrate of Soda 334 

Northern Corn. ...85, 87,141, 143, 149, 

162 171 

Northern Europe, (Gulf Stream) 246 

Norway 123, 246 

Guano from 355 

Note as to Implements 410, 411, 412 

Nova Scoiia 37. 124 

Isothermal Lines 244 

Nubia, Maize in 36 

Oats 276, 278 337,347,349 

Obstacles to M.aize Growth 263 

Ohio Agl. Reports for 1849 377 

.1858 225, 247, 268. 283 

1862 282. 297. 355 

1869 133, 201, 251, 408 

1870 426 

Ohio See Tables 

Northern , 430 

North-Western 250, 252, 265, 300 

Southern 428 

South-Eastern 278 

Birds ~ 282 

Bottoms 278, 299, 391 

Climate 2.36 

Coal Measures 251 

Cost of Cultivating Maize Crop.... 428 
Crop, Maize... 44, 48, 50, 59, 65, 66 
Avcrngc Value of C3 



INDEX. 457 



Page. 
' »hio Crop, Acreage and Yield per 

Acre in Counties ~ Tl, 73 

Distilled Liquors «... 231 

Fiirm Implements 68 

Freights 100 

Geological Report for 1S70 300 

Gypsum 323, 325 

Limestone 317 

Maize Bread 219 

Prices .....~ ».... 64 

Rotations 278 

Prize Crops. 297 to 300 

Settlement of 75 

Swine - 47 

State Fair 378, 38i 

Premiums « 382 

Taxes for Drainage - 265 

Varieties .....143, 150, 155, 170, 171 

Ohio Canal »... 43 

Convention, (Agl.) for 1869 251 

Monitor, (Columbus) ,... 81 

Valley 134, 148, 260 

Ohioau, (Deep Plowing,) 414 

Oil „ 3, 17, 149, 161, 171 

Oil of Vitriol 346 

Oil from Maize 157, 232 

Omophrou Labiatum ~ 287 

Omonee 211, 212 

One Horse Plow 407 

Oneida Lake, N. Y ™ 428 

Onondaga Co. N. Y ~325, 323 

Ontario Co. N. Y 262, 289,430, 431 

Ontario, Imports from — . 124 

Opium ^. 123 

Orange Co. Ind., Rotation 276 

Oregon 127, 240, 243, 260, 381 

[See Tables.] 

Variety ......150, 15 

Organic Manures 347 to 370 

Orientals 373 

Orthoptera ^ 286 

Oxen Feeding 178 

Digestion ».. 179 

Eat How Much 193 

In Wales and China 373 

Oxides of Iron and Manganese 337 

Oxygen 9,10, 11, 15, 256, 310 

Oxv-muriate of Lime 319 

Oyster Shell Lime 318 

Pacific Ocean 24, 112, 144, 237, 

238, 241, 244 to 246 

Guanos 366 

Railroad 2.38 

Slope 269 

Painesville, O , Fodder. 429 

Panama 24 

Papers from Maize 233, 234 

Pappoose Corn ^ 158 

Paraguay 37 

Parched Corn and Meal 206, 210, 211 

Paring and Burning Clays 336, 337 

Paris, (Nitre Beds) 332 

Parker, J. W 307 

Parkersburg, W. Va ., 86 

Patent Corn Cribs. 423 

Patentees of Plows 376 

39 



Page. 

Patent Office Varieties 145, 150, 151 

Patents, Com. of. Orders Analyses 

of Varieties 165, 166 

Patents for Plows from Jan. 3, '72.... ;Wl 

Pearl Ash 32O, 331 

iieas 273, 275, 278, 347, 348 

Peat.. _.. 303, 351, 352 

;^shes _ 33s 

Charcoal 352 

„ Soils (See Muck) 335 

Penn Colony, Maize In 33 

Pennsylvania .48, 50, 55, 81, 201, 

219, 243 287 

(See Tables.) 

Distilled Liquors 230, 231 

Left Hand Plow 380 

Limestone 259, 317, 328 

Liming Land 315 

Plaster _ ™ 325 

Rotations 275, 277 

Varieties 147, 150, 156 

Peoria, Ills , Cost of Raising Corn.. 427 

Persia „. 35, 268, 361 

Peru 25, 26, 37 

U. S. Exports & Imports...l21, 124, 134 

Maize Liquor _ 230 

Varieties 139 

Peruvians 25, 230 

Irrigation.. 268 

Guano 366, 368, 370 

Phaloena Forfioalis 291 

PhiladelpliiaPrices.....76, 77, 80, 85, 104 

Exports 126, 127, 130, 131, 133 

Exposition, (Centennial).- 163, 383 

Philistines _ 371 

Philippine Islands 123 

Phosphates 12, 161, 162, 252, 262 

Mixed 321 

[See Lime, Magnesia, Alumina.] 

Phosphatic Manures 355 

Phosphoretted Hydrogen 354, 355 

Phosphoric Acid 12, 21, 175, 255, 

320, 321, 346 370 

Phosphorite _ 321, .322 

Phosphorus 10. 12, 313, 340, 34L 

Pickering, CoL Plow Improver. 376 

Pigeon, Passenger 280, 281 

Pigeon Manure, How Applied 36L 

Piscataqua R., Prices of Maize in 

1680, &c 33, 3 

Pitch of Plow , 396, 39' 

Pittsburg......-,, 104, ir 

Pizarro 2. 

Plantagenet on Corn Bread 21'. 

Planting Corn, Time of, 296, 301, 404, 40 . 

Plant Louse, 28" 

Plaster of Paris 259, 277, 322, 324, 344 

Effect of Applying it and when, 323,324 

Where Found (See Gypsum) 

Pliny on Roman Plow .372 

Plowing for Maize Crop 386 to 397 

Plowing, When Best in Fall 386, 387 

Depth of ..„..387. .388, 389 

In Ridges 272, 391 to 394 

Effect of in Wet Soil 387 



458 



I'age. 
Plow, See Following Titles : 
Aiuericaii Plows, Chinese, Dutch, 
Kiiglisli, Flemish, Grecian, He- 
sioiJs, Koinau. 
Also: Castile, Ceylon, Europe, 
Southern France, Bengal, Hiu- 
Uostan, Mdgua Gra^eia, Morea. 
Peru (2.)), I'hilistines, Poland, 
Spain, Wales. 
Also : Bull-tongue, Carey, Centre 
Uraft, Dayton, Denver's, Double 
Michigan, Double Shovel, Dyna- 
mometer, Kagle, Gang, Iron 
c:eiitre, Jefferson, Knox, Luft- 
Hand, Xewl)oid, Pliny, Small's, 
Stationary Engine, Steam, Scooter, 
Steel,Siiovel, Steel Clipper, Sub- 
soil, Stubble, Sulky, Swivel, 
Tliatcher's, Traction Engine, 
Triple Shovel, Turnwrest,Varro, 
Virgil, Wheel, Wood Jethro. 
See Also Cincinnati Premiums : 
Cities and Towns furnishing 
Plows for Premiums at Ohio 
State Fairs, Inait of Plows, Dun- 
lap on Same, Fender Attach- 
ments, Holm Oak. Patentees, 
Requisites for Premium Plows, 
U. S. Plows and Steam Plows, 
Wooden Mold Board. 
For Various Purposes, receiving 
Premiums at Ohio State Fairs.... 3S2 

Plows Generally 371 to 38(5 

Plow Horse 39.5, 3% 

Team 39i> 

Plowing with Three Horses 395, 39tj 

Plowing in Manure, When 3U7 

Plowman, Pules for 39G 

Plymouth, Mass 30 

Suppers 215 

Point of Draft 397 

Poland, Plow of 3/3 

Polar Currents 24G 

Winds 23S 

Polvnesia, U. S, E.xporls to 121 

Poiie, Lightened 220 

Poore, BenP 217 

PopCorn 1-11, lo7 

Analyzed 22() 

Joint IM 

Pearl 159 

Porcine System 13, 14 

J ork Packing 116, 129, 132, 430 

Pork, Bacon, itc.. Prices 80 to 93 

9l>, 97, 99, 100 to 105, 129 133 

Different » lasses of. Described 92 

Portland, Oregon. Prices 101 

Porto Rico. U.S Exports to, 120, 121, 122 

Portugal, U. S. E.xportsto 118 

Imports from 123, 124 

Po.ssibiliiies of Large Yields 304, 30:i 

Posts for Fences 271 

Potash, 175, 251, 255, 313, 310, 321, 331, 332 
(See Potassa.) 

Soluble Salts of 2.54.25-., 342 

Potassium, Hydrate of Oxide of 331 



Page. 
Potassa 12 

Potato Roots Loosen Soils, &C...273, 

274,277 278 

Pondrette from Fish 3 i5 

Blood ^ 350 

NightSoil 302,3(53 

Poultry fed on M lize . 178, 205, 200, 423 

On Maize Ealing Beetles 2!vl 

Prairie Hen 283 

Prairie Loam 300 

Plow 379 

Premiums 296 to 304 

Prices of Maize iu the U. S. * olo- 

nies 31 to 33 

Maize, Meal and Mess Pork, (U.S. 

Ciiies), Jan. 30, '75 104 

Same at Liverpool, Eng 100 

Freights of Same, Jan. 30, '75 106 

Maize in 1800,^\Vashington's Esti- 
mate) 79 

Maize and Hog Products Early in 

19th Century 74 to 78 

Same at Baltimore 78 

Same at Marietta, 75 

Same at New York Ciiy 77, 78 

Same at Philadelphia 76 

Successive in New York ( ity....S0, 

81, 83, 85. 87, 89, 90, 91, 92 IDl 

Hog Products in N. V. City, from 

'fi4 to '73 96s 97 

IMaize & Meal in same, same years, 95 
Maize Ratio to Mess Pork at Bal- 
timore, (1802) 80 

Same at Philadelphia in 1806 80 

At Baltimore, i-'orn, 1815 83 

At Baltimore, Corn & Meal, 1825, 83 

At Boston, corn, 1830 87 

At Boston. Corn and Hog Products 

'39 to '50 88, 89 

At ButtUlo, N. Y., Corn, 1848 94 

At Charleston, Corn <k Bacon, 1815, 83 
At Chillicothe, Corn & Meal, 1823, 82 
At Cincinnati, Hog Products, 1828, 83 
At Cincinnati, Corn and Hog Pro- 
ducts, 1828 84, 85 

At Cincinnati in 1837 S3 

At Cincinnati in 1839 9i) 

At Cincinnati, Corn, 1848 94 

At Cincinnati, Corn and Me.ss 

Pork, '64, '69 to '71 103 

At Chicago, '64 & '09 to '71, Maize 

and Mess Pork 103, 104 

At Cleveland, O., Corn 102 

Coshocton Wheat 84 

In England, Indian Corn and Hog 

Products, '44 and '64 90 92 

At Liverpool. Eng., 1845 91 

At Marietia, Corn, Meal & Bacon, 

1820 SI 

Kew Orleans, Lnrd, 1S17 81 

Corn Meal & Hog Products 1822, 83 

Hog Product, 1S28 85, 86 

Bacon, 1830 87 

Corn and Hog Products, 1839.... 89 

Torn, 1839 90 

Corn. 1843, '49, '50 102 



459 



Page. 
Prices nt New Orleans, Corn and 

Mess Pork, 1855 102 

Corn and Mess Pork, 1S71, '75.... 101 

Com Meal. 1875 104 

At New York, Corn, Meal and 

Mess Pork, 184'2 101 

Norfolk, Va. Corn Meal & Bacon, S2, 83 

Kichmond, Va., 1815, same 83 

Siin Francisco, Lard, 1875 104 

St. Louis Corn, 1848 94 

St. Ijouis Corn and Mess Pork, ['64, 

'69 to '71 & '75J 103, 104 

Wheeling, Va., Corn, Meal and 

Pork, ['28, '29] 86 

Zanesville. Wheat 84 

Of Freights on Ohio<t Mississippi 
Rivers, and Great Lakes & Erie 

Canal 101, 102 

Lake Freights, &c., from Cleve- 
land to Buffalo Dunkirk, Oswe- 
go, and to New York 101 

Freights from Detroit to Albany, 
N.Y., Phil'a, Boston and Port- 
land : from Milwaukee to '"in'ti, 
Cleveland, New York. Philadel- 
phia and Baltimore 106 

From Milwaukee to Liverpool, '75, 106 

Price of Maize for B>i.ing 2C8 

Prices as aflected by Supply and De- 
mand 106 

Prices as affected by War - 56 

Of Export from U, S 82, 121, 122 

Prime Pork 92 

Priest's Experiments;Draftof Plow) 397 

I'roteine, Analysis of 16 

Protoxide and Peroxide of Iruu S37 

Providence, E. L, Prices 104 

Proximate Elements of Maize, 9, 11, 15 

Prussia, Maize Bread iu _ 2i6 

Public Domain, U. S 240 

Pueblo Villages 37, 140 

Indians 212, 213 

Puerto Bello 23 

Puget's Sound 1.14, 237, 245 

Pumpkins among Corn 415, 416 

Puritans, (Mush, &,v.,) 215 

J'utnam, Judge \V. K., Varieties 164 

Quarantine, Maize 36, 157, 160 

Quarterly Journal of Agiiculture... 874 

(iuebec. Imports from 124 

Quiiicv, Josiah, on Soiling 17S 

Quicklime 314, 330 

Kadiation of Heat 246 to 248 

Railroad, Baltimore and Ohio «6 

Rains 238. 239, 241, 242, 247 

Randolph Co. Ills. Rotation 276 

Rappahannock Co. Va 277 

Rareripe Varietv 1.53 

Rats, Eat Beetles 2X4 

Prevented 291 

Devourers of 293 

Recipes for Corn Bread 219, 220, 221 

Red River of North 236 

Red Sea, Maize near 34 

Refuse of Plants and Wood as Ma- 
nures C51 



Page. 

Repairs to the System 

Reports on Commerce and Naviga- 
tion 117, 119, 126 

Republic, U. S 107 

Of Greece 114 

Requisites for Premium Plows, 382, 383 
Revenue Districts for U. S...126, 127, 128 

Rhode Island 50, 6 , 6b, 

See Tables.) 

Dolomites 323 

Guano Used 367 

Maize Bread 219 

Soil 261 

Variety 140, 146 

Richmond Va M, 104 

Richmond lud 3V2 

Rice Corn 141, 157 

Ridge Plowing 272 S91 to 394 

Rivers, Ettect on Soils 249, 2oU 

Robin, Habits of 283 

Rock Crystal o34 

Rock Salt S33 

Rocky Mountain System, 236 to 238, 242 

Roger Williams V\0 

Roller i,57 

How Made 40i) 

How Used 401 

Rolling Stalk Cutter 420 

Roman Plow 372 to S74 

RootCropH, Prepare for Maize 273 

Bring up Soluble Silica 835 

Rotation of C ops 272 to 279 

Rouse, Richard 155 

Rumford, Count, on heating water, 

263 264 

Rural Cyclopedia 205, 21<) 

Russell, Robert 244 

Russia 35, 103, 114, 119, 123 

Russian River ^'alley, California 240 

Kveand Indian Bread 219 

Rye Plowed In 349 

Region of 34 

In Rotation 275, 276, 278 

Saft'ord, Gov 240 

Saint Antoine Varietv 15.5 

Etionne Coal 339 

Louis Prices Ac. 93, 94, 101, 102, 

103, 104 129 

Paul, Prices 104 

Thomas, Imports to U. S 1.34 

Salem Premium Plow 382 

Sal.m, O., Subsoil Plow 383 

Salisburv, J. H., Analyses. .170, 171, 

ISO, ]8i, 225 22(5 

Salt Lake Varieties 1.59 

Saltpetre 332 

Samp 212, 214 

San Antonio Valley, Texas 418 

Sandusky Bay, Plaster.. S2.'» 

Sand, Effect of Excess in Soil 2.'7 

Sandy t^oils 252, 2.54, 255, 2.57, 849 

Sanfoin for Plowing in Green 847 

S.in Francisco, Exporting District... 127 

I'rice of Lard 104 

Saskatchewan R 37 

Saturdav Evcuiiu Po^'t K3 



460 



Page. 

Savannah, Ga., Republican 3tH) 

Saving Manures 359, 3ti0 

Sawdust, Al>sorbeMt 3f)] 

Sciienectsvdy Co. N.Y., Broom Com, 433 
Schlogelmuhl Imp. Paper Mill, 233, 234 

Soioto Gazette ~ 8'2 

Scooter Flow 412 

Scotland, U. S. Imports from 123, 124 

Ridge Plowing o9C 

Width of Furrows _.. 390 

Seotch Plow 374 

Serapingsof Leather as Manure SSfi 

Seaweeds 333, SbS 

Seeds, Magnesia Essential to 330 

Seed Corn Used in U. S , '70 to '74... la^ 

Selection of - 172, 401, 402 

Select Virgins .„ 26 

Seneca Co N. Y., Value of Com 

Stalks _... 196 

Senegal R., Fish and their Food 365 

Serpentina, Source af Magnesia 328 

Sewa-eof Towns , 255, 3(>4 

Seybert, K.. IKxport Table] 109 

Shakers, Soils 262 

Draining 204, 265 

(Jost of Cultivating Maize 427 

Shale 2.51 

Share of Plow 371 to 380 

Shavings, Pine Shatters, &c., [Ma- 
nure] 3.51 

Sheep, Digestion of 179 

Corn for 197, 201 

Manure from 357 

Shelled Com for Young t'alves 197 

Shell Marl 2.59 

Shells attbrding Lime 316 

Shellers, Hand and Power 412, 425 

!-helling by Hand ™ 424, 425 

Sheltering Manures .« 300 

Shoe Peg (;orn 152 

Shovel Plow.... 297, 301, .302, 3C6, 407, 

410. 412 4ie 

Shrinkage of Varieties 174 

Of I orn Generally 428 

Shucks Compare<l with Blade. &r., 

Value 189, 190 

Sicilv, Plow 371 

Side'HiU Plow 377, 381,382, 395 

Si en ite for Corn Mills 425 

Silex 252, 338 

Silica 12, 20, 21, 175, 257, 313 

Oxide of Silieiiim ~.... 3S4 

Kffect of on Soils _ .335 

Silicates of Alumina 33fi 

Lime .Si'2 

Magnesia 331 

Pota.sh 3.32 

Soda :>» 

Siliciiim 3:>4 

Silicic Acid 331, 3.35 

Silicious Soils 349 

Silks 123 

' nltnre 237 

Silurian Fonnnlion 259, 32H 

Sinclair on Soils 2.52 

Singletree 396 



Page. 

Sioux Indians 157 

Six Nations .„ _>. 158 

Slate t'ormations 1 „. 2.59 

Slags of Iron Furnaces, tsilicd) 322 

Small's Plow 375 

Smith, Aaron, (Plow Inventor) 377 

Smith's Draining System 266 

Smith, John, on Maize Culture 29 

Smith.sonian Institute 144 

Weather Tables 239 

Winds 242 

I.sothermal Lines 244 

Smut in Corn - 293, 294 

Snow Corn 141 

Soaking Corn for Feeding 198 

To Prevent Worm Destroyers 312 

Seed with Mineral Substances 312 

Sod for Longstanding 262. 309 

Soda 313, 316, 321 

Carbonate 333 

Nitrate and Sulphate of 3.34 

Sodium, Chloride of d^iS 

Sod Plowing 387, 388, 389 

Soil Best for Maize Culture ....248 to 

2lV> - 397 

Soiling Crop 175, 178 to 181, 428, 429 

Soils, Ab.sorbing Power of 250, 251 

As to Moisture 2:a 

Effect of Clay on 2.56 

Ert'ect of Draining 268 

Gravelly 2:.8 

Sandy .„ 257, 2.53 

Sononx, Maize Region .37 

Soraona Co. California 240 

Sorghum 278 

Southampton Co. Va., Guano 368 

Southern corn ....17, 85. 87, 142, 

148, 148, 162 401 

.South American States 121, 122, 124 

South Ctirolina— See Tables. 

Windsof 243 

(;rops, <&c ~ 50, .59 

Irt'<ects 290 

Rotations... ™ 277. 278 

Southern Europe 216, 424, 425 

U. S. Exports to and Imports from, 

118, 12;? - 124 

Spain, Maize in 35, 216, 217 

Phosphorite 321 

Plow of 373 

Soda 333 

Saltpetre in 332 

Varieties of 160 

Spaniards 213 217 

Spanish Creole Variety _ 1.55 

Sianjsh W. Indies 123 

S|»ring Pinning 296 

Spriiiglield Mass. Kepubljcan lft> 

Springfield, O 3N2 

Premiums :W2 

Spnriy for Plowing in 347 

Sial->les,'IilMnnrc from ;Vt7 

Stagnant Water, Effects of au 

.'Stalactites, Stalatimites, &e :516 

Stacking Corn F(HMer 430 

Starch. 11, 17, 18, 149, 157, 161, 167. 171, 226 



461 



Page. 

Starch, From Maize 231 

U. S. Statistics of 232 

States be.st Maize Producing 66, 67 

Stationary J^igine, (steam plow) 384 

Ktatist cal History of Maize in U, S. 

38 to 135 

(See Tables.) 

Steaming Bones 342 

Steam Cultivator 385 

Steam Plows 384 to 386 

Steel CI ipper Plow 379 

Steel Plows 378, 383 

Hteubenville, 300 

Stewart, E W., (Steaming Fodder... 193 
Straiglit Plowing, Importance of ,395, 396 

Striped Gopher 281 

Stubble as Plant Food...l7o, 176, 278, 350 

Plowing 377, 387 

Stumpy Ground Plowing 272 

Subsoil 258, 267, 380 

Attachment .. 390 

Plow. 380 to 382, 383, 389, 413 

Subsoiling 247, 258, 301, 337, 389 

Successive Cultivations 408 

Succotash _ ;. 209, 210 

Suckers Pulled 413 

Sugar. ..18, 123, 158, 1C9, 171, 197, 225, 226 

Sugarcane 228 

Sugar Corn 208 

Sugar and Syrup from Maize. .226 to 229 

Sulky Plow 381 

Sullivan Co. N. H 277, 328 

Sullivant, J. as to Hog Feeding, 201, 202 

Sulphate of Alumina 336, 351 

Ammonia 323, 346 

(Jopper , 161 

Barvtes 340 

Lime 259. 323, 324 

Lime and Potash Mixed 321, 325 

Magnesia 331 

Potash 334 

Sulphur 10, 12, 313, 340 

Sulphuret of Iron 351 

Sulphuretted Hydrogen 354 

Sulphuric Acid, 175, 321,. S23, 325, 340, 343 
Super-Phosphate of Lime, How 

Made 343, 344 

How Applied 344, 345 

Tested 344 

Testimony as to its Fertilizing 

Power 344 to 346 

Supply and Dematid 106 

Snsquehannah River, Sugar Corn, 158 

Sussex Co. Del., Guano. 368 

Sussex Co. N. J., Phosphorite 321 

Swallow 282 

bwamps and Bogs, Reel-timing, 264, 

265, 269, 305 309 

Sweden, V. S. Exports to, &c 118, 123 

Swedish West Indies 82, 119 

Sweet Bread 13 

Sweet (;orn 161, 162, 169. 1.82. 225, 225 

Swine in U. S 44 to 47, 68 to 71 

rsee Tables.) 
I'm i nets. Early Prices of, at Ma- 
rietta, O ^ 75 



Swine, Exports of, and Hog Pro- 
ducts, their Prices, &c. See the 
Names of the Exporting Cities 
and Foreign Countries, and of 
the Different States of the Union 
also. E.xports, Prices. 
Switzerland, Farmers of German... 363 

Insects In 282 

Plaster in ?23 

Swivel Plow 379, 395 

Sylvanus Quadricollis 288 

Surinamensis „ 288 

Sylvester, Dr 199 

Syracuse, Plow in Medal at 371 

Syria, Irrigation 208 

Tabasco. (Mexico, Large Ear) 301) 

Tables, See List of. 

Talcose Slates, Phosphorite in 341 

Talladega Co. Ala., Manures, &c 177 

Tanbark Spent 353 

Tartrate of Potash 331 

Tasseling of Corn 415 

Taxings of Liquor Manufacturers.. 231 
Team <Sc Plow, How Managed... 395, 396 

Temperate Climate as to Maize 38 

Temple of the Sun 25 

Tenerilie, U. S. Imports from 123 

Tennes.see 44, 47, 48, 50, 60 

(See Tables.; 

Bat and Other Guano 369 

Dolomites ,329 

Phosphates 259 

Varieties 150, 162 

Texas 43, 49, 50,52, 60, 123 

Birds 281 

Bat Manure 369 

Heat Lines 245 

Insects 2H6 

Sowed Corn Fodder 430 

Winds 243 

Thaer 36, 252, 255, 257, 2,58 

Thatcher's Plow 376 

Thatcher, R., on Feeding Hogs 202 

Thiat, Egypt, (Soda) 3;« 

Tiles for Drainage 265, 266 

Tillotson's E.xp'tson Maize Sugar... 228 

Timber, Importance of 270 

Tisween 2;iO 

Timothy .,. 298, 347 

Meadow....'. 277 

Titicaca 25 

Tobacco in Rotation 277 

Toledo, O., Exporting City 129, 132 

Premium Plow from 382 

Toluca Tortillas 213 

Tomatoes and Corn 415 

Tonnage of U. S 114, 115 

Of U. S. Ports l.w 

Topping Corn, Proper Stage for 188 

Fodder from 189, 190, 191, 419, 4'.'0 

Torrid Zone 2.> 

Tortillas 213 

Tourke Bread 213 

Townsend, Plow of <'astile 373 

Tmction Engine for Steam Plows... .Ssi 
Trap, Apatite in 341 



46*2 



Page. 
Treasury Dep't U. S. (Liquors Taxed 2:51 

Trials by bynaraometer 383 

Trinidad, Maize in 23 

Triple Shovel Plow 413 

Triple Corn 164 

Tschudi, M. De, on Insects & Birds.. 2«2 

Turkey K, 114 

U. S. Imports from 123, 124 

Turnip Slices as bait for Worms 2S4 

In Rotations 273, 274 

As Green Crop Plowed In 347 

Turnsole Paper 256 

Turnwrest Piow 377 

Tuscarora ( orn 140, 153, 154, 157, 

158, 161, 165 to 169, 171, 226 345 

Tuscarora Indians 146 

Twin Corn 151 

Under-draining 265 to 268, 272 

With Sub-soiling 3.^9, 390, 397 

United States Agricultural Reports 

For 1842 48 

1843 48, 226, 228 

1844 48, 91, 228, 255, 311 

1845, Note 48 

1847 145, 160,183, 293 

1849, '50...17, 131, 188, 191, 200. 232, 

261,268,285, 353, 427 429 

1S.-)1 3C8 

1853...22, 113, 140, 161, 201, 218, 235, 

262, 281, 289, 344, 386 427 

1854 235, 433 

1855 16 

1856...144, 242, 264, 266, 317, S27, 352, 375 

18,57 17. 166 

1858 247 

18.^9 22, 235. 385 

I860 268, 331, 338, 340, 348 

1861 197, 349, 357, 370 

1862 49, 52, 378, 389, 395 

1863 51, 233, 284, 379, 386 

1864 18, 52, 347 

1865 17, 193. 194, 204, 235, 366 

1866 210, 212, 217, 239, 345, 379, 429 

]Hfi7 162,385 

1868 121. 237, 240, 2-»3, 259. 260, 

268 279 286. 287 299, 309, 326, 346, 434 
1869. 193, 235, 240, 304. 317, 3S1, 385, 430 
1870 140, 181, 213, 235. 2.55, 268, 349, 385 

1871.. 104, 159. 254, 268, 286, 34.5, 

380, 385 428 

Igyo 156 

1849'to"Vs53 324, 339, 358, 361 

1849 to 1870 236 

United states Ajiricultural Society, ^ 

E.xhibition at Chii ago 385 

United States Agl. Department, 156, 369 

Census Statistics for Maize 39, 40 

(Census for 1870, iLiquors) 231 

Consumption of (iuano in, 1851... 368 

Consumption of Maize in 134 

Crop. (Note to p. 48), See Tables. 

Drainage in 269 

Eiirlv Commercial Experience... 108 
Exports & Imports-See Exports, 

Geographical Features of 23*. 2.38 

Geological Features of 252, 2o'3 , 



Page. 
United States Government Taxing 

Liquors 229, 2.10 

Greatness of its Agriculture.. 171, 172 

Irrigation in 269, 270, 416 to 418 

Maize Region and Limits. ...234 to 248 

Meteorology of 238, 241 to 247 

Plowing in 387 to 391 

Population of 1850, 1860 & 1870, 40 

Reports oa Commerce and Navi- 

tion 114, 117, 118, 119, 124 

Steam Plow in 385, 886 

Tonnage of 114, 115 

Tonnage in Ports of 132 

Varieties of Jdaize in 138 to 175 

Unger, Dr 22 

University of Wisconsin 159, 174 

Uredo, (Disease) 291 

Urine 357, 364 

Utah 37 

Maize in 239 

Utica, Winds of „.... 243 

Valparaiso Variety 157 

Value of Maize, Crops, Estimates, 
(fee.— See Tables. 

Varieties of Maize 138 to 174 

Black 140 

Blue 140, 213 

Brown 141, 145, 146 

Calico -. 139 

( hanges in 142 

Experiments on 155, 174 

General Remarks on 172, 173 

Mercantile ^9 

Proper for Soiling 182 

Tendency to Inteimix 174 

See Analysis of Indian Corn : — 
Dent, Early Evergreen, Hack- 
berry, Hobson, Honey, Keever, 
Piscataqua, Rareripe, Kedblaize, 
Sixty Days, Shoe-peg, Snow, 
Twiii, White, Yellow. Also, 
the Respective Titles of States 
and Maize Countries ; Also, 
Tables of Varieties. 

Varro, (Roman Plow) 372 

Vasco Nunez 24 

Venango Co. Pa. Rep'i from. 147. 3i;0, 301 
Venezuela, U. S. Exports to, <fec . 

121. 123 124 

Ventricles 13 

Veragua 23 

Vermont 48, 50, 63, 66 

(See Tables.) 

Drover on Corn Meal 200 

Large Crops 304 

Maize in 241 

(iypsum 325 

Dolomites .. 328 

Vermonter, (Super-Phosphate) 345 

Vienna Journal 208 

Zeitung 213 

Vines, (Pea, Bean. <fec.) as Manure, 351 

Virgil's Plow 372 

Virginia 48, .50, 60. 219 

(See Tables.) 
Eeetles 291 



4G3 



Page. 



Virginia, Grasshoppers - 

Dolomites 

Plaster ... 

Rocks, Ac. ill 

Rotation 275, 

Varieties 153, 

Virtual Velocities, Law of 

Voelcker Prof 255, 336, 

Vohl, Dr , Fish Guano 

Volcanic Regions, (Sulphur) 

Wabash Co. Ind. Rotation 

Wabash Canal 

Valley 

Wales, New South, Maize 

Wales. Plow of 372, 

Wallachia, Maize in 

Walsh, Dr., Insects 

Wanship, Utah, Rainfall 

Waring on Sowed Corn 

Warner, N. H., Experiments at 

Wars, Influence of, on Prices 

Austrian - 

European 

Washing of Soils 

Washington City 

Plaster 

Washington Co. O., Varieties 

Maize Feeding 

Premiums 

Washington, President 

On Maize 79, 

Washington, Miss , Reports from, 

190, 261 

Washington Territory 43, 

[See Tables.] 

Climate 

Winds 

Washtenaw Co. Mich. Rotation 

Waste Straw, Stalks, Feathers, Hair 

&c., (Manures) 351, 

Water as Fertilizer 249, 

Heated 

Waterloo, N. Y., Corn on Swamp.... 

Way, Prof, on Soils 

Wayne Co. Ind.. Shoe-peg Corn 

Rotiition 

Wayne Co. Mich. Price of Stalks 

Rotation ~ 

Cost of Cultivation 

Wayne Co. N. Y. Value of Stalks.... 

Weasels 284, 

Webb on Maize Sirup 

Weed Hook 

Weeds 

W evil 282, 284, 285, 290, 

Welland Canal 

Western Corn 

Western Herald, [Large Ear] 

West Indies, Maize in 

U. .S. Exports to. Maize, <&c 

Western Reserve Dairy Farms 

West Virginia 43, 

(See Tables.) 

Limestone 

Gvpsum 

Wet Soils, How Injured by Plowing, 



Page. 

Wexford, Ireland 315 

Wheat, Region of 34 

Early Price 84 

Far West 233 

From Hogging Down Corn 178 

First in California 260 

In Rotation with Maize 273 to 278 

Wheat Bread compared with Corn, 219 
Wheat Flour Mi.xed with Corn Meal 219 

Maize a Prepaf-atiou for 273, 348 

Wheeling Gazette 85, 86 

Prices at „ 86 

Whiffle-trees, Patents for 381 

Whip-poor-will ':82, 2,S4 

Whisky From Maize 229, 230 

Insurrection 230 

Census Statistics & Revenue from, 231 

White Australian Variety 159, 174 

White Corn 139, 154 

Double Eared 1,53 

Gourd Seed and Large 153, 154, 165 

White Cap Yellow 151 

White Flint 147, 169, 170 

Flour 141 

White Gourd and Gregory 150 

White, New Mexican and Smooth _ 151 

Whooping Crane 281 

Width of Furrow ■. 390 

Wilder, Col. (Ashes as Manure)... .. 339 

Wild Turkey 283 

Will Co. 111. Rotation 276 

Williams, Roger 210 

Willows, Plow Rope 373 

Wilmington, N. C, Prices 104 

Windham Co. Conn 363, 368 

Vermont 304 

Winds, S. W 238 

Effect on Rainfall 241, 242 

Direction of in U. S 242, 244 

Wing Plow 414 

Wines, Whence Imported 123 

Winter, Effect of on Soils.... 250, 296 

Winter Plowing 386 

Wire-worm 283. 284, 289 

Wisconsin 46, 50, 68 

(See Tables.) 

Dolomites 329 

Chinch-Bug — 285 

Gopher 281 

Varieties 147 

University 159, 174 

Winds 243 

Wolfinger, J. F., Green Crops Plow- 
ed in 347 

Woodchuck 280 

Wooden Mold Board Plows 375 

Wood Co. O. Drains 265 

Wood Ashes Applied 304 

Wood, Jethro, Plow 376 

Woody Fiber 330 

Woodpecker 280 

Wool Offal 370 

Woolen Refuse 357 

Worcester Co. Mass 262, 264, 427 

Work Animals, Digestion of 205 

Worms 281 



464 



Worms Separated from Meal 284 

Wren „ 282 

Wrought Iron Plow 376 

Wyandots 112 

Corn 165 to 167 

Wyoming Territory, Swine 44 

Xenia, Ohio, Reports from 189 

Plows 382 

Yellow Bird 283 

Yellow Corn 139, 146, 147, 152, 154 

Arkansas „ l.W 

Big Southern 153 

Canada „. 141 

Dent 159 

Eight Rowed 146 

Flat „ 150 

Flint 147 

Gourd and Gourd Seed 150 

Kentucky 150 

Large 160 



Page. 

Yellow, Mammoth 151 

Ohio and Oregon 150 

Pennsylvania 156 

Southern Small 153 

Virginia 149 

White Cap 151 

Yellow Lupine 347, 349 

Yield Per Acre of Maize in U. S., 

53, 55, 61 79 

Young Arthur 35 

Yucay 24 

Zancu 26 

Zanesville, 84, 382 

Zara, Zaramana 27 

Zea Mays ... . 135, 136 

Curagua 157 

Zein 219 

Zone of Maize Production 148 

Zurich, {Liquid Manure) 363 




ADDENDA. 

From the Report of the U. 8. Com'rof Agriculture, In the Cincinnati Star of 
October 19, 1878, it appears that the October (78), average condition of the corn 
crop was 96., and the indicationsfavored a crop of 1,300 million bushels of corn 
and 400 million bushels of wheat. The final estimate is not made till after 
returns have been tabulated. 

The number of swine in the United States as estimated by the Airricultural 
Department in January, 1874, was 30,860,900, at an average value of 84.36, amount- 
ing to 3134,565,526; in January, 1875, the number was 28,062,200, at averkee value 
of $.).34, amounting to 8149,869,234. In both these years, and in 1876, Iowa had 
the greatest number and the largest value, Illinois being next; the smallest 
number was in Nevada. The lowest price in '74 was in Oregon ; in '75 was in 
Arkansas; in '76 was in Florida. The highest prices in New England. 

In the returns of seven Western State Auditors for 1877, as mentioned in the 
Financial CUronicle, Iowa hogs under six months were excluded, and Illinois 
had the largest number, 2.961,306; Indianancxt, 2.455,5.34; then Missouri. 2,341 222 
ana Ohio, 2,139,910. The Financial Chronicle for 1877 shows that BreadstuHs.'in- 
cluding Rice, exported from U. 8. in year ending June 30, 1875, were valued at 
^111,478,096 ; meats, $39,217,176 ; lard, »22,900,522. In vear ending June 30 1876 
hreadstutts, &c., exported $131,212,473; meals, 49,592,834; lard, 822 429.485. In 
year ending June 30, 1877, breadstufifs, $117,884,588; meats, $67,288,758; lard. 
$25,562,665. 

The summer hog packing in the West from March 1, in the years 1876, 1877. 



Cities. 


1876. 


1877. 




885,000 
82,500 

195,000 

100,000 
72,800 
12,6.30 

123,571 
68.499 


1,095.000 
110.,500 
1,56,000 
110 000 
91,000 
63,000 
103 864 






At St Louif ** *' 










145;636 







The estimated value of imports of Indian Corn into the United Kingdom <■ f 
Great Britain from September 1 to August31, in the years 1874-5, was £7,095,489; 
In 1875-C, f 11,443,417 ; in 1876-7, £10,6-18,150. 



The following list contains some of the earliest subscribers to this work, 
together with the places of residence, &c.: 



Wm. R. Putnam, farmer, Mu.skingum 
Township, Washington Co., Ohio, ad- 
joining Marietta. 

Anselm T. Nye, founder of Nye Hard- 
ware <^o.. Marietta, Ohio. 

John Mills, retired merch't. Marietta, O 

Beman Gates, President of First Na- 
tional Bank, Marietta, O. 

Edward R. Dale, Cashier of First Na- 
tional Bank, Marietta, O, 

L.J. P. Putnam, farmer, near Marietta.O 

George Cisler, farmer and dealer in 
meats. Marietta, O. 

John M. Plumer, late County Surveyor, 
Marietta, O. 

Luther D. Dana, merchant. Marietta, O. 

Wm. H. Cole, farmer and dairyman, 
near Marietta, O. 

Wm. D. Bailey, farmer. Marietta, O. 

Thomas Bailey, farmer, Warren, Wash- 
ington Co., O. 

Wi Ham Johnson, farmer and wool 
grower. Tunnel. Washington Co., O. 

Wm. W. Perdew, farmer. Tunnel, O. 

Samuel Shipman, merch't. Marietta, O. 



First National Bank, Van Wert, O. 

Isaac Dobbins, farmer and coal hauler, 
near Lowell, Washington Co., O. 

S. Mosier, farmer, near Blanchester, O. 

George D. Emerson, Prof. Mining and 
Civil Engineer, Rolla, Mo.— 5 copies. 

Luther G. Emerson, Mining and <"ivil 
Engineer, & Surveyor, Quincy Mine, 
Houghton Co.. Mich.— 3 copies. 

S. R Emerson, Quincy Mine, Houghton 
Co., Mich.— 2 copies. 

Chas. H. Cisler, farmer. Marietta Town- 
ship, Washington C^o , O. 

Lewis French, atty-at-law, No. 30 Pike'a 
Opera House, Cincinnati, O. 

Mrs. Emily Dodge, Avondale, Hamilton 
Co.,0. 

T. W. Moore, farmer, stock dealer and 
merchant, Ilarmar, O. 

R. G. Lawtou. farmer, Barlow, Wash- 
ington Co., O. 

James Lawton, farmer, Barlow, O. 

Hiram Gard, farmer and Iruit grower, 
Vincent, Washington Co., O. 



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